Hope For the Lost
by TheDeafListener
Summary: Isaac is one of the final humans left in Rapture in the late 60's. Nearly his entire life has been spent working with his family to build an escape from the hell that is Rapture. His parents have been dead for four years now. With only a few scraps left to complete the escape plan, can he make it out with his humanity still intact?
1. Chapter 1

Hey Guys! This is the first story I have posted on FF. I have been pretty into this site for a good number of years but never got around to writing any fanfics myself. This is little more than character introduction and a little piece to test the waters with. For the next couple of days I will probably be updating regularly as I have a backlog of written material.

Isaac slowly opened his eyes to the damaged and damp room that he had claimed as his home. In a world built under the sea, no place was safe from mold and mildew. The smell permeated the place like a cancer.

He breathed out hard through his nose, blowing the itchiness and spores out in a mist before breathing deeply. If he hadn't been living this way for the past few years, he would have thought it was bad for his health.

Feet slapped down against a damp wooden floor. Like the stories passed down from his grandfather, a person had to sleep barefoot in a environment like this or risk an infection like trench foot.

Isaac cracked his back as he sat up straight and wrenched his neck from side to side, working the stiffness out of his body a little bit at a time. His clothes lay hung on a rail across the room from him in a vain attempt to keep them dry. His steel toed boots were slung on the end of the bed in an effort to keep spiders and other various pests from making a home in his footwear.

He glanced around the room to check that everything was the way he left it before starting his daily routine of getting dressed and scrubbing his mouth out with his hands.

Before his parents had died, his father had always told him to keep his hygiene, even in a warzone like Rapture. It would help with survival in the long run. That's what his parents had been, survivors.

Isaac was born in 1949 and had been ten years old at the time that the Rapture civil war took place in 1959. With the Bathyspheres locked down and no escape from the paradise turned warzone, his parents turned to the only thing they knew how to do; build things.

Both of his parents had been instrumental in building the city. His mother had been an engineer and his father had been one of the chiefs on the construction team. Together they had helped Ryan construct the wonder that was Rapture.

His parents used their skills to construct their own bathysphere. Or at least start construction. The vehicle had not been finished at the time of their deaths and Isaac was left with a tool of salvation barely a step away from functionality.

Isaac's parents had been killed in 1964 while on a salvage run for some of the last parts required to complete their ride out of the hell hole that Rapture had become. He had only learned of their unfortunate demise after he had ventured out of their room-turned-fortress and found his father smeared onto the ground and his mother impaled on a broken pipe. Both of them had been killed by a brute splicer.

After retrieving the bodies and launching them out one of the airlocks, he swore to himself to complete the bathysphere. Armed with a list of parts in one hand and the skills in combat and construction taught to him by his parents in the other, he had worked for four more years on the bathysphere, hiding from splicers and killing those that found him.

He was finally going to complete the bathysphere and escape this year. Today was the final day and the final salvage run.

He was going to be free.

Isaac spit the dirty water out of his mouth. Even with the filth around him and the barely edible food that he ate every day, he was still concerned about his mouth hygiene. It was a habit instilled in him by his father, a survivor of every meaning of the word.

He looked up from the filthy sink into the cracked mirror that hung from the wall. What he saw in it had long since stopped to surprise him.

A nineteen year old man looked back at him. Scars littered his face and a few came dangerously close to his eyes. All were badges earned from a hard life of fighting splicers and working on large machinery.

Dirty brown hair hung down past his ears and a thick stubble adorned his chin and neck, hiding a long scar from a Houdini's hook.

Light blue eyes of a person tired to the soul looked back at him. A hint of insanity shone through the haze of exhaustion in his eyes, the product of a human derived from peace for the majority of their life. That spark of insanity had scared him at first, but he had learned to accept it. Hell, his best friend was himself. He was the only person he had talked to in the past four years.

He straightened out the mirror and walked to his clothes.

Pulling his boots on, he sat back down on the bed and retrieved the large revolver from under his pillow. The gun was a token from his father. The heavy .44 magnum had served his father well since he had purchased it in the early 50's, that was, until his demise.

For the longest time, the large revolver had been his only weapon to protect himself from the horrors outside of his door. Recently, however, a couple of new weapons had been added to his armory.

The first had been an M-3 Grease Gun. The weapon was simple, light, and fired the abundant .45 auto that was the bare minimum for stopping an angry splicer. He had finally adopted it after finding one in a safe only a few days after being swarmed by splicers and narrowly escaping with his life. The same fight had earned him the scar across his throat.

The second weapon he had added to his set was a BAR 1919, an unbelievably rare piece in Rapture. The thing fired the fairly rare .30-06 rifle round, but was heavy enough to fuck up a Big Daddies day and then some. He had grabbed that after being trapped by an angry Big Daddy in the closet of some random store for two days until the damn thing left him alone. After that incident he had sworn to himself not to go scavenging until he found himself something that could kill a monster like that reliably.

Isaac set the revolver on the table next to his crumbling bed and pulled his pants on.

After that he pulled a filthy white shirt on before pulling a leather jacket on over that. The jacket had been his father's ankle length trench coat, but he had trimmed off most of the fabric to shorten it, fearing that the long coat would be grabbed by a splicer.

The now mid thigh length trench coat was plenty warm for the frigid, wet place that was Rapture. Without functional heating, the city had plummeted to a mere degree or two above freezing. Not that the mutant inhabitants cared about the temperature much.

Next, Isaac slipped a shoulder holster for the revolver on. He grabbed the gun and strapped it into the worn leather. The holster had also been his fathers, and in some places was still stained with his blood. A haunting reminder of just how bad things could be for Isaac.

After the holster was snugged down, he slipped on a metal chest plate. Made of steel and iron scrap he had found lying around Rapture, Isaac had fashioned himself a protective piece capable of stopping a .44 magnum round. He had tested it with his own revolver. The bit of armor was now dotted with pockmarks from the unlucky times he had met a splicer that was accurate enough to actually hit him.

Isaac sat down at the small table in the corner of the room and popped the top off a can of beans and a beer. Not exactly a breakfast his mother would be pleased with, but enough for him in his current rushed state. He just wanted to get the last couple parts and get out of his personal hell.

Even with how excited he was at his proximity to freedom, he would not show it. In fact, he could not show it. His body would not let him take the risk of showing excitement. Being this close to his goal, he could not afford a mistake. Happiness and joy could be experienced once he was out of this tin can at the bottom of the sea.

He drank the mush of beans and sipped his beer, the whole while having a conversation with himself out loud.

"So, last day, any regrets?" He asked himself.

"Yah, not finding any better food than beans. Seriously, how do you eat this shit?"

"Psh. It's not that hard once you eat it for a few years. Hell, you have eaten it for a few years, how the hell are you not used to it?"

"Hey, you are the only person here that eats anything. I just talk."

"Yah, whatever. At least you could be positive. I found a fucking beer. In this shithole."

He said to himself as he grabbed the glass bottle by the neck and shook it for emphasis.

"I say again. I don't eat anything. You drink the beer. I watch. Beans look fucking disgusting and you can't convince me that they don't. At least the beer looks semi-edible."

"Whatever."

There was a moment of silence as he continued to eat.

"I do have regrets though."

Isaac glanced down at his hands.

"And what would that be?" He asked himself.

"Leaving."

Isaac was dead silent for a second. He took a moment to collect himself before answering in a shaky voice.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" He asked himself.

"Think about it. Leaving all this ADAM behind. All this untapped potential. We could be a god down here. The surface has nothing to offer. All you have to do is shoot up a few plasmids. With our brains, we could wipe this place clean. Start over. Be a god among..."

Isaac cut his second self short.

"We are not staying down here! We have worked too damn hard to pull that shit. My parents died for this! Nothing down here is worth saving!" He screamed into the dim room.

"And I am not going to fucking splice! We have made it too far for that shit! I survived on my own, no drugs!" He finished, his voice hoarse from the sudden outburst. He threw himself back into his chair and ran his hands through his hair. He had to get out of here before his talks got worse. Before he really lost it all. Before he became one of them.

He grabbed the can of beans and tossed them in his makeshift garbage can and pounded the last bit of beer.

"Time to get this done" He muttered to himself. His second self did not answer.

He pulled his pack on, slung the BAR over his shoulder, and grabbed the submachine gun.

He walked to the door of his room, grabbed two magazines for the BAR, three for the M-3, and two handfuls of .44 rounds out of a basket near the door.

" 40 rounds for the BAR, 90 for the greaser, a few dozen for the magnum. Pray to God that's all I need." He muttered before slamming the cracked door behind him.

Well that's the first "chapter". It's not really a full chapter, I just ended it there because it seemed like a good place to end it. Most chapters will be longer than this. I mainly posted this first chapter as a way of sort of testing the waters and seeing how many people are interested. Tomorrow, or later today (posted this at midnight lol) another chapter will be posted. Hope you enjoyed it! Please review!


	2. Chapter 2

Here is chapter 2. It is a good bit longer than chapter 1 and actually involves some of the beginning of the plot. I will be updating again tomorrow and will keep updating daily until I actually get to the meat of the story.

Even in the naturally dim light of Rapture, the change from his dark room to the brighter hallway was enough to make Isaac squint as he closed his door.

He shielded his eyes from the bare bulb that hung from the ceiling.

After his eyes adjusted to the corridor, he took note of the cracked, molding ceiling, the cracked, molded walls, and the cracked, molded floor. The entire hallway had cracks and bits of junk all over it and mold patches were everywhere.

"Cracks and mold. Cracks and mold. All my kingdom for a patch of clean fucking ground and a solidly built wall." He muttered to himself as he kicked the wall with his steel toed boot. A nice little indentation remained.

He sighed to himself and started off down the hallway of the once super luxurious hotel. Even the highest class hotels were victim to the unavoidable water damage.

He padded down the bare concrete stairwell. Years of practice made his footsteps nearly silent. A skill that he had forced himself to learn after the splicers got more and more sensitive.

Years and years of survival had lead to Isaac noticing a few differences in the splicers recently. With ADAM becoming more and more scarce, only the toughest splicers remained. In Rapture, however, tough was not enough for survival. Cunning and awareness were just as vital.

The splicers that Isaac had encountered recently had been able to practically smell him. The slightest sound he made they would hear. The slightest movement he made they would see. They were becoming more and more lethal. Bullets, however, don't give a shit how lethal a living thing is. They will kill it all the same.

Isaac gripped the grease gun a little bit tighter as he exited the front door onto into the main area.

"List. List. What's next on the list..."

Isaac pulled his list of parts from his pocket. The list was blood stained, folded a thousand times, filthy, and almost cloth-like despite being written on paper. It was the original. The paper that he pride from his mothers cold, dead hands. Of course he had made copies, but he always carried the original for luck.

Isaac rarely looked ahead on the list. Preferring to tackle each task individually. He only really glanced ahead if he found something that seemed so useful it had to be important for the bathysphere. So far this method had worked perfectly.

He glanced down at the final couple items need for his escape.

"Four meters of copper wire. Easy. Ball cock valve. Ha. Easy. 1 inch rotary valve. Don't know what the fuck that is for. Might be hard to find... Nah, those are in instruments and stuff... Modified little sister harvester?" Isaac did a short double take at the end of the list. What the hell did he need a harvester for? Sisters were rare, but stealing from one of them was downright suicidal with the new Big Sister protectors becoming more and more common.

"Are you shitting me? I have to get a harvester off a little sister? Really?"

He checked the list again and looked closer. Sure enough, warnings of the dangers of stealing from a little sister were scrawled around in his mother's handwriting.

"Fucking hell. Save the best for last why don't you..."

Isaac folded up the paper and tucked it in his breast pocket before reaching up and running his hands through his hair, the machinegun dangled from its sling at his waist.

"This is going to be a long day." He muttered to himself before starting off to the last place he had seen a long coil of wire.

Having found the wire, the ball cock valve, and the large rotary valve, Isaac was sitting on a bar inside some restaurant sipping water.

"Hands still smell like shit from that toilet. Still don't believe how many instruments it took to find that damn rotary valve." He muttered to himself as he sipped the water.

"Just gotta find that damn harvester. Maybe I can luck out and find one lying on the ground... No, that won't happen. Those things are practically part of the Little Sisters."

"You sure you wanna go looking for that harvester? You might not like what you find." He suddenly told himself.

Isaac shook his head to clear his thoughts.

"You're back already? What, you wanna try and pressure me into splicing again? If I am already crazy, what makes you think that splicing won't make me even more crazy?" He asked himself.

"Oh, I never wanted to make you splice. I just wanted to get you into a healthy argument with yourself. See if you still got spirit in you."

Isaac sighed.

"Well then why do you want me to stay down here?" Isaac asked.

"I don't necessarily want you to stay, I am just saying that you might not like what you find if you go looking for something like that."

Isaac shook his head again.

"What are you saying? I know what I'm in for. Big Daddies come with Little Sisters. I know that. And since when did my own mind know something that I didn't?"

"That's not what I am talking about and you know it."

Isaac waited for his second self to continue, but nothing happened.

With a sigh, Isaac hoisted himself off of the bar and continued on his way.

"Jeeze, I won't even talk to myself. How far gone do you have to be to feel lonely when you stop talking to yourself?"

Isaac arrived at an intersection. In four directions , long, metal floored hallways extended out. Figuring this was as good a place as any to take a break, Isaac started across the intersection to the nearest building. Carrying so much equipment sure wore a person out fast.

As he approached the building he had decided to set up in, he heard what sounded like pounding footsteps approaching fast from his right. He dove into the building and hunkered down under a window.

After a moment of the steadily growing footsteps, they stopped. From the sound, Isaac determined that they were right outside of the building he was currently in.

Isaac shuffled around to get a better idea of what was happening. Footsteps shuffled outside and he froze, ear to the wall.

"Hey boss, I heard Terry got one of those little yellow eyed bitches. That's why we got called back here." A cracking male voice said. The voice was fast and almost giddy.

A low steady voice answered.

"Yah think, you stupid fuck? We were told he got a Little Sister. All that ADAM is probably going to waste on that little shrimp. How the hell did he kill the Daddy anyway?" He said back.

A third voice answered.

"I heard he set up some massive amount of explosives and just blew the thing to hell. Just the boots were left."

The second voice answered quickly.

"And how would you know that? You haven't even talked to anyone about it yet."

Isaac imagined the third voice shrugging before it replied.

"Dunno, just guessed."

A thunderous whack resounded around the intersection accompanied by a cry of pain.

"Jay, shut the fuck up if you don't know something." The second voice yelled.

After a moment of sniveling, the shuffling sound of footsteps started again and the three men moved away.

Isaac let out a breath. Before realizing if he followed them, he could easily nick the harvester off of the Little Sisters corpse after they harvested her.

He pulled himself up out of the small pile of rubble he had been sitting on during the conversation and started off after the group of three splicers, carefully remaining out of sight.

"My life just got a whole lot easier..." He whispered as he sized up the three splicers from behind. It looked like it was just two Houdini's and a spider. Not even a brute was in the group like he had originally thought.

After a moment of letting the group get a little further ahead, he started off after them at a brisk pace, freedom set in his sights.

Isaac followed the three splicers to a three story building. As they entered, Isaac held back to get a small plan formulated.

He sat in a pile of garbage across the street from them and watched the windows intently.

"Alright. Three spicers so far. Not much of a threat together. I still am undetected and have the element of surprise. They are probably not just going to throw the corpse out of the window or something, so at some point I am going in there. Probably going to be killing a few of those bastards and then getting out of there as fast as possible. They probably have more friends en route." He spoke to himself softly.

"If I go now, I can get out before the numbers are seriously against me. That is my best bet.." He whispered, but stopped. He could see the outline of the men in the window on the third story. Below the window was about a ten foot pile of rubble, reaching the bottom of the second story. A near perfect escape route in case things got really bad.

"All right. It's settled. Go in, get out. As fast as possible. Easier than a Big Daddy." Isaac said as he pulled himself out of the pile of trash and snuck over to the entrance of the building containing his prize.

"I hope." He blurted out suddenly. He shook his head and took a basic mental map of the ground floor.

The ground floor was relatively open, the only cover being a few counters. A small broom closet was in the back, but would be of little use. The two large windows in the front of the store would allow firing lanes inside and meant that escape from the ground floor would be impossible if more splicers came. He would probably be leaving through the window.

After a moment longer of mapping the area to his memory, Isaac started up the stairs to the next level.

This level was full of small apartments or something similar. He quietly cleared each room.

The floor had one main hallway and rooms on both sides. The perfect place to make an ambush in case he couldn't get out of the window.

He continued down the hall to the next staircase and started up to the third floor. At this point he could hear shouting and what sounded like a loud argument. He continued forward until he could clearly hear the words being shouted back and forth.

"... I said I don't give a shit if you caught her! I can tell you took some ADAM already. You don't get anymore." The low voice from before shouted out.

"Boss, I didn't even open her up yet! How could I take ADAM?" A new voice shouted.

Isaac immediately assumed it was Terry, the man who he had not yet heard.

The sound of fist impacting flesh resounded through the wall.

"Don't lie to me Terry! I can smell it on you!" The low voice yelled. Isaac could hear the sound of a gun cocking.

"Whoa, boss, calm down. I don't think he took it." A new voice called. That makes five Isaac thought to himself.

"Yah, I don't think he gots it man!" Yet another voice called. That makes six.

Isaac could hear the low voice grumbling through the wall as he inched towards the door that lead to the small meeting that was going on. As he grew closer he could hear the muffled cries of a little girl. The Little Sister was definitely in the room with them, but it sounded like she was gagged or something.

"Shut up you dumb whore!" A new voice shouted. Isaac cringed at the resounding slap. That makes seven.

Isaac brought his submachine gun up to his shoulder and checked the magazine as well as the breach. Everything was good and ready to go. He popped open the pocket containing the extra magazines for the grease gun and undid the tie on his revolver just in case.

After a few deep breaths he gently placed a hand on the door and pulled himself up.

"Alright. This is going to be loud."

He delivered a solid kick to the center of the door and the door flew into the room, the rotted frame unable to support it against his powerful blow.

He rushed into the doorframe and brought his gun to his shoulder. The seven splicers inside were all spiders or Houdini's with a couple lead heads thrown into the mix.

After seeing the look on their faces, Isaac couldn't resist.

"Surprise mother fuckers!" He screamed before opening up on the crowd of mutants.

The staccato report of automatic gunfire filled the small apartment building and defeated Isaacs unprotected ears. Round after round tore through the gang members. The leader, standing in the center of the room, was one of the first to go down. Three nearly half inch holes appeared in his head accompanied by a spray of blood that repainted the wall behind him.

The rest were sitting in chairs or on couches. Isaac sprayed the whole room down with the large .45 caliber slugs.

After what seemed like an eternity the gun clicked empty.

Couches were overturned, stuffing still floated in the air, the walls were red in some areas, and almost three dozen brass cases littered the floor. Isaac felt like his ears were full of cotton.

The barrel of the M-3 was still smoking and heat was rising up from it in small little waves. He pulled the dry stick magazine out of the gun and reloaded quickly before pulling the charging handle. He gave his head a shake to try and clear the fuzziness and walked over to the small girl with glowing eyes and the large needle clenched in her hands. She was tied down and had a gag around her neck. It must have come loose during the fight.

He bent over and reached for the harvester before realizing.

Gag. Around neck. She can scream.

Just as those thoughts rushed through Isaacs head she let loose with an ear splitting scream. He heard it even though he was nearly deaf.

"Fuckity fuck! Shut up kid. I just saved your ass!" He yelled as he tried to slap his hand over her mouth. She screamed even louder.

"Fine! Just give me your damn harvester!" He shouted at her as he grabbed the large syringe she cradled in her hands. He finally got a good hold on the thing and managed to lift her up by the handle.

"Let go you little shit! Let go! I swear to god I will drop kick your ass!" He shouted. She held on stubbornly. He gave the syringe a shake but she had a firm grip on the handle. His hands kept sliding down the needle and he nearly was poked in the chest by it.

After a moment of struggling, it seemed like he was finally going to be able to pry the stubborn mutant child away from her harvester, but just as he was about to get it free, he heard the sound of nightmares.

"SCREEEEEEEE!"

Isaac dropped the child and gripped his damaged ears. The window pane that had somehow survived the onslaught of bullets shattered from the sheer force of the scream.

Isaac let out a pained shout as the brutal scream continued. He dropped to his knees in agony and the scream suddenly let up.

He swore and quickly got up off of his knees and suddenly realized he could hear other swears and moans of pain from out in the hallway. More splicers had come.

Isaac double checked his gun and turned from the doorway back to the child.

Just as he was about to grab her, a black streak flew through the window and landed in front of her. Isaac was barely a hair away from touching the physical manifestation of death itself. He could see the grim fucking reaper and it had one red eye. And it was pissed.

"Unzip em, Big Sis!"

Isaac stumbled back from the tall black form. At 6'3 Isaac was a pretty tall person, but this figure was at least a couple of inches taller than him.

"There you are you son of a bit..." A voice called from the doorway behind him. Just as the man spoke, the demon lurched forward toward Isaac.

Isaac was not exactly the fastest person, but against something that terrifying and deadly, he managed to get a little extra speed and dive out of the way in the nick of time. His foot was clipped by the speeding monster and spun him into the corner of the room.

The crowd of splicers in the doorway and hallway were not as lucky, and caught the full force of an angry death machine head on.

Isaac scrambled to his feet as a chorus of screams erupted behind him accompanied by the sickening sound of steel sliding through flesh.

As Isaac dove for the window, a splicer who had rather good reflexes managed to fire a shotgun off at point blank into the big sisters shoulder armor. The loud blast deafened Isaac as he flew from the room onto a pile for rubble outside.

He landed in a heap with a burning agony in his side. The barrel of the BAR impacted solidly into the back of his head and the M-3 clattered down the side of the hill.

He felt his ribs crack as he rolled down the pile and landed in a heap next to the dented and scratched stamped steel gun.

"Fucking hell happened to easier than a Big Daddy." he moaned breathlessly. He stumbled to his feet and picked up the grease gun and trudged on as fast as his battered body would carry him. The adrenaline was the only thing keeping him from collapsing as he rushed away from the sound of gunfire and screams.

Well that is chapter 2! Things are going to get more serious from now on. The writing will also probably improve a little as the next parts were written while I was listening to music. It helps! Really!

Review please! Stay tuned for the next chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

Hey guys! This is chapter 3! About halfway through this chapter is when I start to get really serious about this story. It is a little jarring for those of you expecting this to be the light hearted story that it started out as, but the ending of this chapter is the sort of vibe I want this story to have. The change in style is mostly due to me taking a long break in the middle of this chapter and getting some new ideas. I hope you like the direction it is going! Also, after looking over my previous chapters i noticed that FF did not keep my format completely and that lead to some probable confusion among you readers. Sorry about that. I will try and clean up the format, but I am still new to this doc manager. Hope you enjoy.

* * *

He stumbled and fell only about half a block away from the slaughterhouse that had become of the apartment. He was close enough to still clearly hear the gunshots and screams. In all honesty, the splicers had survived longer than Isaac had originally thought they would. They were still as good as dead, however.

He coughed a little and pain shot up from his side. His hand shout down out of reflex and came back bloody.

"What the fuck... Did I get like a sliced up on the way out or something?" he muttered to himself as he pulled his coat open a little more.

Instead of a shard of glass sticking out of his side he was greeted by the pepper wound of a shotgun blast. Some splicer had loaded birdshot instead of the usual buck or slug.

"Must of been that lucky bastard that got the shot off into the sisters shoulder. Damn, that shit sure does ricochet." He muttered to himself as he pulled the coat tight to his side in attempt to staunch the bleeding.

He pulled himself back to his feet. He had to keep on moving. The only reason the Big Sister hadn't come after him already was that it was a little busy killing off the rest of the gang of splicers. As soon as they were all gone, she would come after him. He wanted to be on the other side of the city by the time that happened, but that was unlikely.

Isaac shuffled on despite the pain and blood loss. If he let this small mishap kill him, both the four years of his life spent working his way out of hell would be wasted as well as the deaths of his parents. His parents died for his chance to escape. He was not going to let that go to waste.

By the time he reached the end of the block, he heard a sound that made his heart sink. A gunshot, a blood curdling scream, and the dead silence.

The unexpected quiet gave him another adrenaline rush and blocked out the pain. He was now the next target. He had heard the stories of how well these demons could track their prey. Hell, Big Daddies had a habit of following you long after they should have lost track of you.

Isaac started to run, his injured side screaming in protest. Even with the large amount of adrenaline still coursing through his veins, he still nearly lost his breath from the constant pounding agony.

He had covered two blocks before he glanced over his shoulder. A black streak erupted from the third story window of the building and landed on the side of the building across the street before dropping to the ground. The figure was running in a dead sprint after Isaac.

Isaac turned and poured on even more speed. Knowing he could not outrun the monster, he started taking random turns around buildings in an attempt to lose his tail. His heart was pounding in his ears and the armor strapped to his chest dug painfully into his ribs. He threw it off as he ran in an attempt to lighten his load and the life saving steel plate clattered into a dark corner of the alley.

After a few more moments of random turns and all out sprinting, he burst into a massive hall. Buildings rose three stories on either side of the area and at the far side, the entrance to one of the many glass bridges that connected parts of Rapture together let out a dim blue glow.

The bridge was his target. He could make a stand there.

He poured on the speed for the final leg of his run. If he made it to the bridge, the Big Sister would be force to run in a straight line. He could take it out with the BAR without the risk of missing most of his shots due to the beasts agility.

By the time he was about halfway down the large hall to the bridge, the screaming agony in his side won out. He stumbled with a gasp and glanced over his shoulder, his speed reduced to a quick shuffle.

The black shape of the Sister shot out from the alley he had exited and landed on the side of one of the buildings. It began to pounce from building to building almost faster than the eye could follow.

Isaac swore under his breath and pointed his submachine gun over his shoulder while trying to pick up speed.

He glanced over his shoulder and fired the M-3 one handed, leading the black streak as best he could as it bounced from building to building, quickly closing in on him.

Casings clattered onto the ground and heavy slugs tore through the walls and windows of the buildings behind him. After a moment, the gun clicked dry.

With a grunt, Isaac tossed the gun off to his side as he continued to jog down the hall. His feet slammed down on the metal floor of the hall. He could practically feel the protectors eyes boring into his fleeing form from behind.

After a few more steps he started to unsling the BAR from his shoulder. He wasn't going to make it to the bridge, but he could still open up on the demon and probably hit the damn thing. One or two shots were bound to take it out of the fight.

About half a block from the bridge, Isaac turned and shoulder the large rifle while continuing to walk backwards. Flicking it to the fast auto setting, he fired back at the black streak.

The rifle jack hammered into his shoulder and the large hunting rifle rounds tore through the air. Explosions of sparks and splinters erupted from the walls of the hallway as the massive slugs traced after the evading monster. The gun clicked dry in less than two seconds.

Isaac turned and sprinted another dozen feet while reloading. He was nearly to the bridge, but the Sister was far too close for him to make it.

He spun and opened fire on the Sister again, the rifle spitting lead in a thunderous report. The rounds ripped through empty air behind the Big Sister. The gun clicked empty and clattered to the ground, disregarded as dead weight in a situation that required as much speed as the battered man could muster.

Isaac screamed obscenities. He was out of ammo for the trusty rifle and was only twenty feet from the angry metal covered monster. He turned again and sprinted for the bridge. Even though he was a dozen feet away, he still would probably not make it. He knew this.

Barely five feet from the bridge, he turned. In one fluid motion he reached into his coat, pulled his father's revolver and fell into a shooters stance; both hands gripping the large frame gun and extended in front of him.

The Sister leapt, arms extended and harvester leading the way with intent to skewer him.

He pulled the trigger and a .44 magnum round left the barrel of the revolver in a fireball.

The slug tore through the air towards the Sisters armored head. Time seemed to move in slow motion to Isaac. Sparks erupted from the sisters helmet. The round was too large and too slow to penetrate the thick armored diving helmet and ricocheted off into a wall. The Sister barreled into Isaac and the world was plunged into black.

* * *

"You should really listen to me more often." A voice called from the darkness.

Isaac could see nothing. The only thing around was darkness. Total and utter darkness. The absolute absence of light. The kind of thing only seen in the deepest part of the ocean and the inside of a cave.

"What is that supposed to mean?" He called out. He didn't hear his voice, but he knew he had said something.

"I told you. You would find something you would have been better off not finding." The voice answered.

Isaac was silent for a moment.

"Who are you?" He called out.

There was a small pause before a reply came from the dark.

"Well that depends. I am part of you, just not a part that has always been there."

"So you are something I created? A product of my insanity?"

There was another moment before a reply came.

"You did not create me. I have been around far longer than you could ever imagine." The voice answered.

"If you are not one of my mental creations, but you are part of me, how did you get in my mind?"

"That is the correct question Isaac. However, you will have to do some things for me before you learn the answer. "

"What things? What do I have to do?" Isaac called out into the dark.

Only silence answered him. He called out to the voice again, but with no reply.

A speck of light appeared in the distance. Isaac thought about running to it, but in this realm he had no body.

After a moment, the light grew larger and larger. Pure white light flowed into his eyes.

* * *

Isaac awoke with a start. The first thing he noticed was that he was staring at the ceiling. The second thing he noticed was that he was not breathing.

Gasping for breath, Isaac sucked air in through his cracked lips. Then the pain hit him.

He let out a short scream at the searing pain coming from his right shoulder. The screamed turned into a moan as his abdomen felt like it was being put through a meat grind. Most of his ribs felt like they were cracked.

Isaac tried to form words, but all that he could do was wheeze. After the searing agony subsided, he fully realized his current situation.

The Big Sister was lying in a heap on top of him. That was both the reason he could barely breath and why his ribs were screaming in protest.

The protectors harvester had passed through his shoulder and under his shoulder blade. Blood was pooling inside of his coat and as he struggled he could feel it sloshing around.

After a moment of shifting, Isaac had gotten enough space to pull in a full breath of air. The armored figure still was lying on top of him.

Isaac took a few more deep breaths. The pain was unbearable, but after a couple of moments, he was thinking clearly enough to form a plan.

From what Isaac could tell from his current situation, he was halfway onto the bridge that he had been running toward. The Sisters syringe had gone through his shoulder and pinned him to the floor. His revolver had been knocked from his grasp an now lay a good ten feet above him on the carpeted floor of the bridge, far out of his reach.

Isaac glanced down at the protector. The Sisters head was resting on his chest, and he could clearly see the fist sized dent left in the helmet from his lucky headshot on the protector.

He lay still for a moment. He could feel the thing still breathing. The demon that had killed all those splicers was still alive, and it was lying on his chest.

He wracked his brain for what he could do to get out of this situation. The syringe had him solidly pinned to the floor. If he tried to remove it he would probably wake the Sister, not that he could move it anyway.

Isaac took a couple more deep breaths. He felt something warm dripping onto his chest. He didn't feel any pain in the center, but the feeling of warm blood was unmistakable.

He craned his neck as far as his battered body would allow. A couple ragged holes were in the sisters back. Exit wounds.

However, Isaac knew he had not hit the monster as it followed him. The Big Sister had never broken stride while hunting him, and that meant that he had not even grazed the thing. Some of the splicers from before had gotten a couple good hits on the demon.

Isaac dropped his head back down onto the damp floor. He had no way of getting out of this situation without removing the syringe.

With a grit of his teeth, Isaac reached with both arms and grabbed the protectors thin forearm. The cold metal was barely noticeable as his fingertips were already starting to numb from blood loss.

He pushed the arm up. Too much resistance, no movement. He grunted and pushed a little harder. The barbed syringe pulled out of the floor. The movement caused his vision to dim from the pain.

He growled, his arms shaking from the pain, and began pulling the blade from his shoulder.

Teeth grinding, the syringe was halfway out of his body when it wouldn't budge.

Isaac's vision was nearly black. He could hear his heartbeat pounding in his head. He felt like he was going to vomit.

He felt his arms drop for a split second as he blacked out momentarily. His hand thumped off the ground and he opened his eyes again, vision slightly clearer without the pain of the barbs cutting through his flesh.

He glanced down at the metal clad monster on his chest. It's head began to lift and shake. A rush of adrenaline shot through Isaacs body. The thing was waking up. And it still had its weapon stuck in him.

Isaac flailed his arms out to try and pull his body toward his discarded revolver.

The protectors head shot up. The porthole turned blood red.

"FUC..." was all Isaac managed to get out before his shout turned into a howl of agony as the protect ripped its barbed syringe out of his shoulder.

Adrenaline pumping through his system, Isaac rolled the monster off of his chest, rolled onto his chest, and kicked his way to his revolver in a split second. The Sister scampered for traction, its metal boots slipping and sliding on the damp carpet.

The cold grip of the revolver smacked into his palm as Isaac slid past the piece.

He scampered to his feet and spun around just as the protector threw a blinding fast uppercut with its syringe wielding hand.

Isaac reacted in turn, his adrenaline enhanced reflexes screaming at his body to throw itself backwards.

If Isaac had been spliced, or maybe just lucky, the move would have worked. However he was fighting one of Raptures most deadly and feared predators. He was merely a human pumped up on adrenaline. The Big Sister was a killing machine fed gene altering chemicals. It was, however, slightly injured. That injury lead to Isaac's survival.

The tip of the blade caught Isaac on the left side of his chin and tore its way up to his brow, taking his eye out but not causing lethal flesh damage.

Isaac screeched nearly as loud as a Big Sister, his hands flying up to his face as he pulled the trigger of the revolver. The round clipped the Big Sisters helmet and ricocheted into the glass ceiling.

The gun clattered to the ground. Tears poured from Isaacs unharmed eye. The entire left side of his face felt as though it was on fire. The agony shot like daggers across his skull. Pain pounded behind his remaining eye as he collapsed to his knees, blood dripping down onto the front of his coat.

He knelt there for a moment. Waiting for death to come, swift and undeniable.

When death didn't come, he feared the reputation of the Protector. A merciful kill wouldn't earn a reputation as a demon. The thing was probably going to torture him.

Isaac's heart pounded in his ears. Still dead silence.

After another moment, that thought was discarded as well. The deafening, pounding pain in his head subsided enough for Isaac to clearly interpret what he was hearing. The soft spray of water and patter of drops hitting a puddle. Then he noticed the lack of the sound of boots.

Isaac pulled his hands away from his face. Blood continued to dribble down his left side as he opened his good eye.

His revolver lay on the ground in front of him. Water was pooling above it. He snatched the token of his father off the ground and looked up. What he saw surprised him.

A pair of metal boots. Connected to a Protector.

The Big Sister was lying on its back under a steady spray of water caused by a broken rivet.

Isaac glanced further down the bridge. A helmet lay dented and discarded. Each of the retaining pins sheared. Probably from the repeated hits from his magnum.

Forgetting his pain, Isaac sprung to his feet. He could end this right now.

He slowly stumbled to the foot of the protector, more focused on the movement of his feet than the body.

Once he stood beside the prone form of the protector, he raised his revolver to head level and looked at the things face.

A black halo of hair floating in the puddle of sea water. Alabaster skin. Long eye lashes. A cute nose.

The face of a girl no fucking older than him littered with tiny shrapnel scars.

His hand shook.

Four years killing monsters that were the result of bad science and the evils of humanity had not turned his heart totally. He had not seen a face that looked remotely human in four years. The mirror was the only thing that reminded him of what a human being was supposed to look like.

Here, lying before him, was someone who would be considered beautiful by the standards of someone who lived with normal people their whole lives.

Isaac was stunned. He was also totally crushed.

This thing of beauty was not free from corruption. Like the rest of the damned city, she was changed for the worse. The horrendous product of good intentions.

She was the face behind the killing machine. The thing that stole his eye. The thing that could kill with the flick of its wrist.

She was a monster.

Isaac rubbed his eye. The revolver was clutched in a white knuckled death grip in his left hand. He sighted down at the beautiful girls face.

She was a monster. A killing machine. Not even human anymore.

His eyes blurred a little more. His arm started to shake.

And what was he? A total innocent? He was a killer. A thief. Born into a world that was never meant to exist. A target of the wrath of God. She would be just another mark on the wall. A dash to add to a tally far too long for any one man.

A tear rolled down his cheek.

His parents had hoped to escape with no blood on their hands. They had died with a clean conscience. Four years ago he could have had a clean slate if they had made it out.

Now he was a murder. He had killed the clinically insane. The inhabitants of a city that were victims of their own desire for life.

How could he take this girls life? He had as much of a right to take her life as she had to take his. He had never killed someone who look so human. So much like him.

He let out a choked sob and dropped his left arm to his side. The revolver clattered to the carpet for a second time.

He clenched his fingers into knots of his hair and fell to his knees.

What was his plan? Did he want to be the only monster to make it out of hell? He was tired of this place. Tired of the killing.

He sobbed to himself. Inches away from being the next victim of a city with no escape. How can a man feel the need for righteousness when all the righteous are dead and forgotten?

Isaac remained on his knees for a few moments. Would his parents even want this version of him to survive? He was no longer an innocent child of Rapture.

"You can fix this. You can pay for your sins." A voice called from his mind. "Just follow what I tell you to do" The voice told him.

Isaac perked up at this. A chance for redemption.

"Save her first. Then we move on to the real tasks." The voice called.

A person used to the feeling of humanity and warmth would have noticed to the careless tone of the voice. A cold and hollow sound that resonates from something born beyond those feelings.

Isaac pulled himself to his feet, holstered his revolver, and grabbed the girl by the collar of her suit. He just had to get her to one of the storefronts he passed to start working.

A second voice in his head told him this was all just insanity.

* * *

Well guys, that's chapter 3 for yah! Using this little line tool probably helps with the reading, as that is where I usually put a little mark for a break in paragraph. Those were deleted in the last chapter.

This was the longest chapter so far. The change of tone was pretty obvious to the end of the chapter, but i hope you don't mind to much. That is the sort of depressing tone that i am going to be writing in from now on.

Chapter 4 will be in tomorrow (or later today. Damn you midnight...). It will probably be the last day that I update consecutively. Each update from tomorrow on will come every two to three days, unless I have a really good day of writing. Then it will be as soon as possible. I still have about 10,000 words on hand to post, but I want to polish it a little before I post it and give you guy something to look forward to if you enjoy my writing.

Thanks for reading! Review please!


	4. Chapter 4

Hey there guys! Here's another chapter for yah! I have been getting a killer amount of views on this story, and most of the viewers looked at each chapter! That makes me happy! REALLY HAPPY! All I need is some more feed back on the writing. Tell me how to improve or what to change. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

* * *

Isaac kicked down the door of the store front. The place was just some average convenience store. Random junk was littered around the floor. A counter with a cash register lay up against the back wall. It was far enough away from the windows to stop the survivor from being spotted easily. He would still have to be careful if any splicers wandered into the area while he was working.

Isaac dragged the limp protector over to the counter and dropped his bag of supplies to the floor. He had a fairly extensive set of medical supplies with him. He never need to much from the supplies, so he probably had more than enough for the job.

With a grunt and moan of pain, Isaac dumped the Sisters upper body onto the counter. A couple unseen objects thumped onto the floor of the storefront. He smacked the register off the counter and lifter her legs up onto the filthy surface.

A single naked light bulb flickered over the counter. The walls were peeling and stained. The ceiling was caving in the far corner of the room. The floor was covered in various patches of mold. It was as good of an operating room as he was going to get.

Isaac picked a small cloth roll out of his pack and unrolled it on the counter next to the Sister.

Sparkling surgical steel caught the yellow gleam of the light. The tools were a gift from a surgeon to Isaacs father, who had saved the man's life from some sort of collapse while he was working in the slums of Rapture. The doctor had no money to give, so he gave the next best thing.

Isaac slid the roll of tools to the side and began searching for a way to remove the top of the protectors armor.

Just from the look of the front of the battered armor, Isaac could tell there were far more entry wounds than exit wounds. Most of the rounds were still lodged in the girls abdomen.

After flipping more than a few random clips open and pulling a few more belts open, the armor began to loosen. After a moment, Isaac found a zipper and pulled it down. He was then able to roll down the upper portion of the suit down to the protectors waist, leaving him free to work on the injured area.

Isaac took a moment to observe his handy work. Removing the suit was a pretty difficult task and had left him nearly breathing heavily.

He reached down to grab a rag out of his pack to wipe some of the blood off on. Just from the amount of blood lost, the protector should have been dead. Isaac, however, knew that a protector like this probably could not drop from blood loss alone. Just the fact that the thing was breathing with a dozen holes in its abdomen was proof that the monsters were tougher than the average human.

After wiping enough blood off of his hands that they were no longer slick, Isaac glanced back up to the protector. His heart jumped into his throat.

While he was removing the suit, he had been too distracted to notice just how _female_she was. Pert breasts with rosy nipples, delicate neck, and toned abs. She would have looked like a beautiful young woman, had she not been coated in dirt, blood, and littered with more scars than even Isaac had gained over the years. However, she looked beautiful all the same to Isaac. A beautiful monster.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts and reached to her head. He turned her face to the side so she lay cheek down on the counter. Just to make sure she didn't choke on her own tongue or something.

He grabbed a pair of needle nose pliers and the bottle of hundred-eighty proof alcohol out of his bag. He splashed some of the stuff on his hands, then the tools, the kicked the bottle back and took a slug. He coughed and spluttered, shaking his head, and capped the bottle off again.

Isaac leaned in to the girls abdomen. The clean entry wounds dribbled blood. The fact that they were not gushing her life out was surprising. There was no way she could have clotted that fast.

Isaac reached out a hand to steady himself. His fingers brushed her arm. The smooth alabaster skin was cold and clammy.

He reached forward with the needle nose pliers to the first near perfect hole punched in her abdomen.

A moment of digging rewarded Isaac with the dull thump of lead hitting wood.

A slightly squished .45 caliber slug, copper plating still mostly intact, rolled back and forth on the grimy counter top. The slow moving slug had enough power to penetrate the protectors armor, but not much more. Isaac sighed to himself. This was going to take awhile.

At least they were not hollow points.

* * *

Nearly thirty minutes later, the Sister had still not woken from her unconscious state. Isaac assumed it would take her some time to heal and regenerate before she would wake.

Pulling the final slug out of the protectors toned abdomen was a small victory for Isaac. He raised a fist in success and dropped the slug into the small pile resting next to the Sisters prone body.

After he had finished pulling the rounds out of the fresh wounds, he had noticed small bumps in various different places on the girls abdomen as well. After a bit of thinking, he had discovered that they were actually bullets. Some were just fragments, and some were fully jacketed rounds. When he had finally finished removing those as well, the pile had grown to nearly the size of half of his fist.

With the final slug resting on that pile, the amount of lead probably totaled up to nearly half a pound.

Isaac shook his head. He had only been shot a couple of times in his four years surviving on his own. All of them had been extremely difficult situations and had put life in a little different perspective for him.

This girl had more lead in her than a gun store.

Isaac laughed to himself at a joke his father had once made. She had _extremely_ acute lead poisoning.

Isaac pulled the bottle of alcohol out again and splashed some more onto a clean rag. He wiped off her abdomen and was once again stunned by just how pale her skin really was underneath all of the grime and blood.

He splashed some of the alcohol on his hands again before cleaning off the pliers.

After cleaning the steel tools, Isaac grabbed a roll of bandages and began tightly wrapping the girls abdomen. After a couple of wraps, he tore off the rest and tucked it tightly together so it would not fall off of her. He threw the roll back into his pack and grabbed a relatively white rag.

He splashed some alcohol on the rag and held it onto his face. The burning feeling was comforting in this situation. At least it meant it was sanitary.

Isaac blinked his remaining eye. Just the fumes from the alcohol were enough to bring a tear to his eye. He rubbed his eye with his free hand and glanced down at the floor.

He was standing in a puddle of blood. His shirt was soaked through.

"Alright she was not bleeding that much..." He muttered to himself.

It was not until he felt a tinge of weakness in his knees did he realize it was his blood.

Isaac threw an arm out against the wall to steady himself. How did he not notice this until now?

"Wow, I'm amazed you managed to do all that on the brink of death. You did good! Take a seat!" A voice called out from in his head. Then the pain hit him like a train.

Isaac croaked in agony, his battered lungs capable of little more. His arm gave way at the elbow and he slid slowly down to the floor, back against the side of the counter.

The world started to lose color and black crept into the edges of his vision.

* * *

Omega opened her eyes. A filthy yellow bulb swung back and forth gently above her.

The first thing to hit her was the stench of mold, then the stench of blood. Her head pounded and she felt like her stomach had been hit by a Big Daddies drill a dozen times.

She sat up, abs screaming in protest, and dropped her feet onto the ground. Then she felt the chill of the air.

The chill of the air? She rarely felt the chill of the air.

Finally, Omega glanced down at her body. Naked chest and bandaged abdomen. She let out a soft screech and pulled the sleeves back on and zipped the suit up.

What the hell had happened? Bandages? Her suit was nearly off? Where the hell was her helmet!

Omega glanced around the room. The counter was bare except for a small pile of lead and a canvas roll of tools. Her helmet was not in sight. She took a few steps toward the counter and stepped in a pool of blood. She heard the carpet squish underfoot and glanced down.

She saw a pair of boots. Steel toed most likely. However, the boots were not interesting, but what was wearing them was.

She slowly followed the legs up to the edge of a coat, then to a blood soaked shirt, then to a face.

A face she had tried to kill moments ago.

The face had a ragged gash running from its chin to its brow, its lip was torn, an eye was gone, and blood dripped slowly from the wound. That strike had been an intended kill, but had not quite worked as intended. Omega was surprised a splicer had been even able to fight back after receiving a wound like that.

Other than the wound, the face looked quite normal. A bit of stubble splashed the slicers chin and messy brown hair stuck up in multiple directions. Honestly, Omega didn't think the face looked even close to most splicers deformed visages.

In fact, now that she tried, Omega could not sense any ADAM on the dying splicer, no, man.

He was a human. In fact, probably one of the last remaining humans in the city. How he had survived this long was anyone's guess.

Had this man really tried to save her even after she had tried to kill him? The gear and lead laying on the counter proved this story. But why? No one in their right mind would try and save a protector, let alone operate on one.

If the man was stupid enough to save her, she could not let him die. There he was, bleeding to death on the floor. What could she do?

It took a moment for Omega to come up with an idea.

Each Sister had a small mix of ADAM and a few other chemicals that were used in an emergency if their slug were to be damaged. The stuff was like a supercharged medical injection, capable of boosting healing to insane rates, even for a Sister.

She could give him a shot of that with her syringe. That would probably work, but she had to act fast.

Omega reached out with her harvester, slowly parting the man's coat, looking for the wound in his shoulder that she had inflected first.

As soon as the cold steel touched him, he jolted awake.

The man started breathing in rapid short and shallow breaths. His remaining eye darted around the room unfocused. Finally, his gaze fell on her.

He jumped a little, then started trying to push his way back away from her with shaking legs. His legs slipped uselessly on the floor. He was not going anywhere from his position on the floor.

Finally, his legs stopped moving. Fear broke through on his face. His left arm twitched randomly from blood loss.

"Pleas..." He managed to croak out before taking another series of rapid breaths.

Unlike many of the other protectors, Omega was capable of feeling pity. Maybe it was partially due to her being one of the final Big Sisters, or just her strength of character.

Omega had not intended to kill the man that saved her, but clearly he did not know that. He knew the risks of helping her. He knew that she could still just wake up and kill him without a second thought.

This was going to be difficult.

She spotted the hole made by her harvester and plunged the blade back in. The man sucked in a breath.

She released a tiny drop of the mixture into his body.

The man jolted away from her like he had been struck by lightning. He rolled onto his side and began to shake. Short screams and gasps came out at random intervals.

Omega gritted her teeth. She never liked watching someone suffer. Even with the splicers, she tried to kill them as quickly as possible and with as little pain as possible. A polar opposite of her sisters, who loved to play with their prey and draw out their deaths for as long as possible.

Omega stood in the center of the storefront, unsure of what to do. There was no way to avoid the pain caused by the injection. It was either going to be total agony or death.

The man began thrashing about wildly, howling like an animal.

Out of options, Omega did something she never would have done before.

She sat down and pulled the man's head into her lap while pinning his arms to the ground.

His face was contorted in pain and he continued howling. He was unable to hurt himself more, however.

She pulled him a little tighter to her as the howls continued.

And there she sat for nearly an hour until Isaac blacked out. Rocking back and forth in a store lit by a single naked yellow bulb. Two monsters of Rapture enacting the most human event the city had probably ever witnessed.

* * *

Pitch black. Isaac had gotten used to this unusual setting. The depths of his own mind. People were not supposed to experience what he was feeling right now. The total void of the subconscious so lucid as to feel real.

A whisper came from the dark. It echoed through the void.

The whisper was spitting words faster than Isaac could hear them. It was just an endless stream of sound. Words spoken with nearly no meaning.

The sound steadily grew louder and louder. First a clear whisper, then a normal talking voice, then a shout, then a voice louder than anything Isaac had heard in his life.

His mind told him his ears should be covered. The sound should be blowing out his ear drums. In his mind, however, the sound could not make him deaf. The voice grew even louder.

Finally, Isaac decoded the message.

"Not enough not enough not enough not enough not enough not enough!"

Then the light came.

* * *

Isaac bolted upright while drawing in a huge breath. All he could remember was the feeling of his blood being on fire and the echo of the voice in his head.

The room looked the same, albeit the minor difference of Isaac sitting on the floor.

He was sitting in a pool of his own blood. There was far too much of it on the floor for him to still be alive. It looked like more than a few people had been butchered in the store front.

Isaac panted for a moment before attempting to struggle to his feet. He managed to nearly get his legs under him before he flopped back onto the floor. His legs were far too weak to be carrying him anywhere soon.

Still shaking from the exertion, Isaac slumped against the side of the counter. This was going to be an interesting few hours.

A gloved hand rested on his shoulder. Isaac nearly jumped off the floor. Nearly.

Instead, he spun and kicked himself away from the hand into the corner of the room.

There, sitting in front of him, was the Sister he had saved.

"What the fu..fu... You fucking stabbed me! Again!" Isaac yelled, the memories of before his blackout rushing back. He was shaking from adrenaline again.

The protector held up her hands in a non threatening gesture.

Isaac looked into her eyes for the shine of deception. Instead, he found the a glint of humor in her bronze eyes.

Isaac wait for a reply, but she remained silent.

He reached to his chest and pulled the coat to the side. The bloody hole was still in his shirt, but no more blood seemed to be coming from the flesh under it. After tearing the hole to a slightly bigger size, his suspicions were confirmed. All that remained was a scar about the size of a penny. There was little trace of the life threatening puncture wound that had been inflicted upon his shoulder.

Isaac glanced up at her. She was watching him patiently.

He reached his hand up to the left side of his face, expecting a ragged, bloody wound.

Instead, Isaac found smooth scar tissue, slightly rough around the edges, but scar tissue none the less.

His fingers brushed over his ruined orbit. He was surprised to feel the orb itself still intact, but sight was still escaping him. He was still blind in one eye.

He glanced at the Sister again. She had a pained look in her eye.

Did she feel remorse for doing this to him?

They sat in silence for a few minutes. The only sounds were the popping of a light bulb on its death bed and the creaks of a city far past its own death bed.

The two monsters stared at each other. When two monsters look at each other, what do they see? Do they fear each other, or share a grudging mutual respect? There were no humans left in Rapture. Only monsters. Monsters created by survival.

The monsters that feared the others died. They were not fit for survival. The monsters that respected each other were the survivors. Of course, not all of them survived, but they were the far more dangerous of the two.

As much as the Sister had taken from Isaac, he could not hate her. Rapture was a place of action, then thought. There were no second chances. She took her chance to eliminate him and failed. He had to respect her for that.

"Well mine are all fixed up. How are yours doing?" Isaac asked, pointing at the sisters belly.

She raised an eyebrow in disbelief. With a shake of her head, she moved to stand.

As she straightened up, she grimaced in pain. Even though the wounds had already healed over, she was still extremely sore.

Isaac struggled to his own feet, having regained enough strength to stand.

He leaned heavily on the counter as he rolled his tools back up and placed them in his bag. The next thing into the bag was the pile of lead that he had pulled out of the Sisters abdomen.

He flipped the flap closed on his pack and pulled it on to his back.

The sister watched him silently from her position across the room.

With all of his gear packed up, Isaac pulled his revolver from its holster under his arm. He could sense the Sister tensing up from across the room.

He flipped the cylinder out the side and shook the two spent cartridges into his palm.

The cool brass glinted in the dim light. He rolled them back and forth in his palm for a moment. These two bullets cause a massive change in his life.

Isaac tucked the two cases into his inside breast pocket in the coat. He reached into a different pocket and pulled two fresh cartridges out. The brass glinted as it slid into place and Isaac flipped the cylinder closed.

Isaac tucked the revolver back in to the holster and turned to the Sister. He noticed she still seemed on edge.

"I know a place where we can spend some more time recovering. It's not safe here, and I don't think you want to fight without a helmet." Isaac said.

Omega nodded and felt her face and hair. Had she forgotten about her helmet that easily?

Isaac began walking towards the door of the store front. Omega followed.

After a few steps he stumbled, nearly falling to his knees. Omega slipped his shoulder over her back and pulled him up, steadying him.

Isaac grunted.

"Thanks"

They strolled out the door together.

"This is going to be interesting" Isaac muttered to himself.

* * *

That's chapter 4. Not as long as chapter 3, but a good chunk of text none the less. Updates will probably take 2 days each from now on depending on how fast I am writing. If i have a good writing session tonight, I might update tomorrow. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Review!


	5. Chapter 5

Alright. I had a good night of writing yesterday. Here is another chapter.

Shout out to senpen banka for reviewing every chapter of this story as they come out. Seriously. You rock man.

Tonight will probably not be a good night of writing since I started late and I am totally trashed, so there's probably not going to be an update tomorrow unless a miracle happens tonight.

Hope you guys enjoy!

* * *

Omega was entertained by the man's reaction to her appearance, concerned by his lack of strength, but totally caught off guard at his forgiveness.

When he had felt his face, she was sure he was going to be furious. She had taken his sight from one eye. She knew she would be enraged by such an act.

She was amazed when he simply sat silently for a moment and then asked her how she was.

She had shown him that she was still sore unintentionally, but it had turned out okay. He packed his tools into his bag.

When he pulled the gun from under his coat, she was sure she had been tricked. Played for a fool. He had made her comfortable to catch her off guard and finish her off.

He simply calmly reloaded the weapon and tucked the two shells into his coat. Strange, really. Him keeping the spent shells.

When he had nearly fallen, her body had screamed at her to leave him. He was weak right now and would hold her back.

She ignored her instincts and helped him anyway. So far they had been helping each other. Why should she stop now? This could prove to be quite helpful to her goal she had recently made for herself.

Together they left the storefront. She need him to support her because of her wrecked abdomen and he needed her support because of his weakness from blood loss.

As soon as they had crossed the threshold out of the store, the man drew his revolver. He glanced around the hall before starting off to the bridge where they had met in battle.

They shuffled slowly. More slowly than anyone looking to live should move.

By the time they reached the bridge, the man was panting heavily and Omega felt like her abs were on fire.

The man reached down and picked up the large rifle off the damp floor. A glimmering trail of brass ran nearly the entire length of the hall. Some of the brass was large, some small.

The man plucked her helmet off the ground and passed it to her. She nodded a thanks and they started off down the hall together.

After a moment of walking, the man bent down again and picked a smaller gun off the ground. He pulled the stick off the bottom and tucked it in to one of his many pockets. He removed another from a different pocket, slammed it in, and pulled the bolt back. He slung his left arm over her shoulders again, the gun dangling limply at his side from his right hand.

Omega felt like this was going to be a long journey.

* * *

Isaac felt genuinely comfortable now that he had his BAR slung over his back and his M-3 back in his hand. At least they were no longer defenseless targets.

He was in no shape to be walking this far. Even though his wounds had healed, he felt like he was going to pass out at any moment.

The warmth of his partner kept the cold tinge in his fingers from clawing its way up his arm.

He could definitely learn to enjoy the help of someone else.

Isaac could feel his toes going totally numb.

This was going to be a long walk.

* * *

The walk back to Isaac's room was glacial. He felt as though he had run miles when he finally guided the Sister to his door.

His cold hands fumbled with the large brass key as he tried to unlock the reinforced door.

Finally, with a loud click, the door swung in. Home sweet home.

He took one step in and fell onto his knees. All of his strength spent.

The sister pulled him up again and helped him stumbled to his bed. She moved away for a moment to pull the covers back.

Isaac tossed his coat onto one of the chairs by the small table in the corner of the room. It was quickly followed by his shirt, stiff with dry blood.

A shiver racked his whole body and slipped beneath the thread-bare covers.

"Thank you..." He murmured as his eyes slipped shut, into the serenity of sleep.

* * *

Omega had felt the man starting to get weaker and weaker as time went on. When they had finally gotten to the door of his safe place, she was relieved. She could sense he was going to go down at any moment.

When he fell, she was not surprised but rather prepared. She pulled him up and got him on to his bed.

His thanks surprised her. He had thanked her. After she had chased him down after killing the gang coming after him. She had nearly gutted him. She blinded him. He still thanked her.

She shook her head as she pulled the key from the door. She shut the door, locked it from the inside, and slipped a cross brace across the frame.

She pulled one of the chairs out from under the small table in the corner of the room and extinguished the single dim light that was illuminating the room.

Dark blue light poured from the small window on the top of the wall.

Omega sat in silence, contemplating what had happened since she had last slept.

She had saved one of her sisters, gutted a small gang of splicers, been shot more times than she liked to count, broke her helmet, and made her first friend. Whom she had met by trying to kill him. Overall, it was a good time.

She slumped into the chair, the fatigue from the day of fighting and healing setting in. She was tired. She wanted to sleep. She couldn't, however. She had to keep guard. Her friend was in much worse condition than she was, and she could not let harm befall him as he rested.

So she meditated. It was the only type of rest the Big Daddies could ever have, so she was told. She fought her mental conditioning. She tried to remember her past before her indoctrination.

She sat for an hour. Thinking and dreaming, but not sleeping.

The only sounds that filled the room were the sounds of the ocean. A gentle creaking of metal. The breathing of a sleeping man.

Finally, she stretched and cracked her back, not realizing how stiff her body had become while she thought.

Then she remembered his smell. His smell as she carried him.

Not the smell of the dirt or the blood. Not the stink of the fear or the all penetrating sent of rust that clung to the inhabitants of the city like a second skin.

The smell of life. Pure, un modified life.

He gave off the smell off in waves. She could sense it. No inhabitants of Rapture smelled like he did. They all had the smell of the infection, the plague of genetic modification.

She had noticed it as she carried him. Just barely lingering in the air, like something seen out of the corner of your eye. You knew it was there, but could not quite make it out.

She knew as soon as she smelled it that she wanted it. She wanted to smell like life. Like she knew she did before she was thrust into this hell.

Now that she was in his room, the smell was so much stronger. She could practically taste it. The whole room smelled of his life. She felt like just smelling it made her know his past. His pain. His motivation. The motivation of life.

And there he was right there. The source of her distress. Sleeping peacefully. Right in front of her.

He stirred, as if distressed by her thoughts. Her thoughts froze. Her mind was dead silent, fearing the faintest thought would wake him.

He sat shakily up in bed and rubbed his eyes before running his fingers through his hair.

His eyes glinted in the dull blue light.

"I need some air." He spoke softly.

She nodded, eyes locked on his.

"Get some rest in the bed. You don't need to keep watch. There is no danger here."

She nodded again and stood from her chair.

He slipped past her, snatched his revolver from the table and opened the door to the hall.

He grabbed his gun after telling her there was no danger.

He really just wanted her to rest.

* * *

Isaac barely waited for the door to click shut before he drew in as deep of a breath as he could.

He felt like he was suffocating in that room. With her.

The entire place smelled of something. It was not the blood or the rust. It was something else. Something entirely different.

It was slightly sweet. Almost undetectable. He could not remember when he had first noticed it. It might have been when he pulling the bullets out of her gut or when they were walking back to the room. He couldn't remember. All he knew was that the smell got exponentially stronger when he was in the room. She had to be giving it off. That was the only explanation.

Isaac leaned heavily into the wall, revolver dangling from his finger tips.

It wasn't that the smell was bad or anything. In fact, it was quite the opposite. It smelled too damn good. It clouded his mind and made his mouth water. His body wanted him to do something about the smell, but he had no idea what. It was just so confusing.

After a few more moments of deep breaths, his mind finally started to clear.

And if the smell wasn't enough, the protect sure had a weird aura about her while he tried to rest. She was dead silent and didn't even move.

Most of all, when he woke to get some air, she stared him down with her predatory glare. To say it was unnerving would be a massive understatement.

"How the hell am I going to sleep in there?" Isaac wondered aloud.

* * *

As soon as the man walked out the door, Omega was pulling her armor off. She wanted to be in that bed. Surrounded by that smell.

Belts where whipped off and buckles smacked the soft wooden floor. The leather suit landed in a pool at her feet.

Omega dove under the covers and buried her face into the pillow. She was practically submerged in the smell. His warmth soaked into her body. She squirmed and rolled trying to get deeper into the warm bedding, practically shaking with glee.

Finally, Omega lay still. Raven hair splayed out in a halo around her head. For once, she was happy.

* * *

Isaac shivered a bit as a frigid breeze blew through the hall for a split second. Had he not lived in the building for so long, he would have gone to investigate. The breeze was a rather common occurrence, however.

Rubbing his arms for a little warmth, Isaac reached in to one of the many pockets on his cargo pants.

Pulling out a box of Camels, he pulled one of the paper tubes from the pack, tapped the box, and stuck it in his mouth.

The box slipped back into a pocket and a glimmering lighter sparked for a moment.

Isaac took a deep breath of the calming smoke. He glanced up at the ceiling, thin white wisps of smoke curling up to the flickering light.

Today had been an interesting day. He had met someone who, after trying to kill him, actually helped him. He could actually say that he had made a friend.

Now that they were finally in a safe spot, Isaac couldn't sleep. He was lucky enough to find a friend, but not lucky enough to find one that he felt comfortable enough around to sleep in the same room as all because of a smell. It was stupid. He had not realized how stupid this situation was until now.

All he had to do was go back into his room. His own room. Pull out a chair, and sit down. He could sleep in a fucking chair if he didn't feel up to the bed. This was really not that big of a problem.

Drawing a few more deep breaths off the fag, he flicked it to the ground and crushed it with his heel. It might have been a waste of a good cigarette, but he wanted to get to sleep.

Isaac turned and pushed the door open, stepping into the darkness of his room.

The light cast from the hall illuminated the protector in his bed. The sheets were tangled up around her legs and her hair was strewn about the pillow. She looked wrecked.

Isaac held back a laugh at the sight of the once frightening protector in such an innocent pose and took a few more steps into the room, closing the door behind him.

As soon as the door clicked shut, he knew this was going to be difficult. The smell was even stronger than it had been before. He could feel it on the tip of his tongue. The sweet muskiness.

Isaac balled his hand into a fist and sat down on the chair the Sister had been on a few minutes before. He noticed her discarded armor next to the bed.

He leaned back in the chair, balancing it on the back to legs.

"This is going to be a fucking long night..." He muttered to himself as he shut his eyes, wishing sleep to come as quickly as possible.

* * *

A cool had tapped his forearm.

Isaac jolted from his sleep and quickly glancing around the room. There was no way he had slept for a whole night.

Finally, after his heart calmed down, Isaac shifted his gaze to the protector in his bed.

She had the sheets clutched around her chest and was sitting up in bed. She was staring at him intently.

Isaac rubbed his eyes and leaned forward in the chair.

"What is it? Did you hear something outside?"

She shook her head, but made no effort to communicate further.

Isaac sighed. Not being able to have a conversation with this girl was going to make things more difficult.

Finally, the Sister patted the bed next to her.

Isaac swallowed hard.

"No... Ahh... I'm fine in the chair. Really." He said cautiously.

She raised an eyebrow at him and patted the bed again.

Isaac shook his head and leaned back in his chair. If she didn't want to talk, he wouldn't try and listen.

He closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep. A soft growl made his eyes shoot open.

"What the..."

He glanced back at the protector. She had a glint in her eye and was pointing at the bed again. Another soft growl caught his ear.

Isaac let out another long sigh.

"Fine. Fine. I'll sleep on the bed."

Isaac pulled himself out of the chair. His back cracked loudly and he grunted. Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea.

Seeing him finally rise from his chair, the protector slipped back down onto the bed.

Isaac pulled the covers back on the opposite side of the bed and slid between the sheets.

He gave the Sister plenty of space and simply stared up at the ceiling. He had not realized how cold he had been until the warmth of the bed started to sink in.

Finally, he shut his eyes and steadied his breathing, waiting for sleep to take him.

Time passed slowly. After what seemed like an hour, he still had not fallen into the bliss of sleep.

The Sister had not moved much at all. Isaac simply assumed she was sleeping peacefully.

Suddenly, a soft hand brushed the right side of his cheek. The protector was on his left.

The hand stroked the side of his face for a moment. Then Isaac felt the tickle of hair on his face.

This was the closest Isaac had been to another living thing that was not trying to kill him. His entire body was telling him to get up and run.

The tickle of hair disappeared a quickly as it came. The smooth hand pulled him gently to the left.

He felt the Sister shifting in the bed and suddenly her face was pressed into his neck. Her cool nose was right below his ear. He heard her draw in a long, deep breath. She let it out slowly, the unexpected warmth on the sensitive part of his neck made him shiver.

Her smell washed over him and his heart beat even faster.

Then Isaac realized she was naked. Her breast was pressed into his shoulder. His elbow was brushing her taught belly.

She slipped a leg over his, her smooth thigh tangling with his leg. Her warmth seeped into him and forced him to relax. He couldn't be on edge in this position. It was simply to intimate.

Isaac gritted his teeth. This was practically sensory overload. The room was nearly dead quite except for her breathing. All he could do was _feel_.

She stopped shifting and her breath steadied. She had fallen asleep. In this position.

"This is definitely going to be a long night." Isaac thought to himself.

It was.

* * *

Isaac was in the all too familiar darkness of his mind. The only place he could carry on long conversations with the voice.

"Hello" Isaac called into the darkness. His voice echoed.

There was silence for a moment.

"Hello Isaac." The voice called back. "I see you have grown friendly with the Protector. Saving her was the right decision for both you and me. Tell me, why do you not know her name yet?"

Isaac was a little stunned by the voices draw out speech. Usually the voice was brief and cryptic in is messages.

"I... I... I just haven't got around to it. Why do you ask."

"Oh, no reason..." The voice replied.

"You are here to talk about the beginning of your path to redemption. It was me that convinced you to start with the Protector. However, there are many more tasks you must perform for me before you can view yourself as redeemed."

Isaac shook his head.

"Why must I do anything for you to consider myself redeemed? Who are you to judge me?"

"I could be the voice of your parents, of your conscience that deserted you when you were left on your own for survival. I could just be a simple voice, telling you things you already know. Tell me Isaac, if you view yourself as a fine person and in no need of redemption, why did you listen to me and save the Protector? If I am just a voice in your head, I must come from somewhere. I come from the view that you know you have of yourself. You know you have done wrong. You know you are not what your parents desired you to be. You are a murderer who is too strong to let himself become another monster. I am the part of you that wants to save your soul, Isaac. You really should listen to me."

Isaac was stunned. The voice was right. He truly did view himself as a person that his parents would not recognize. He had to leave Rapture as a good person, not as the monster he felt himself becoming.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Finish the bathysphere. Then we will talk more." The voice said.

"Alright. Is that it right now?"

"Oh, and Isaac..."

"Yah?"

"Find out the Protectors name."

With that, Isaac felt the true feeling of sleep come to him.

* * *

Well folks, that's the first bit of fluff in this story. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Like I said, there may or may not be an update tomorrow.

Keep being awesome Mr. Senpen.

Hope you enjoyed it!


	6. Chapter 6

Well, I had a fairly good night of writing last night. I had a good idea of how I wanted the chapter that I wrote to play out, so it flowed pretty well. I only have one more chapter ready to post, so I am definitely going to be holding off for two days so I can get ahead a bit more. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

Isaac's eyes shot open. Why hadn't his parents woke him up? They said that they were going out for a salvage run and that he should rest. There were going to need his smaller hands to help with the wiring in the bathysphere.

A quick glance at the clock confirmed his suspicion. They should have been back hours ago!

Isaac scrambled around the room looking for his jacket. He had to go out and find them. They always told him that if they didn't come back he should expect the worst.

The door slammed behind him as he rushed out into the hall.

Where could they be? They had said that they were going to be getting some hull plates. That meant they were going to the industrial district. Probably around Paupers Drop.

The miles and miles of endless corridors drew out for what seemed like infinity.

Isaac knew he was running, but didn't feel like he was getting anywhere. He knew that he was running out of time. They would be dead if he didn't run fast enough!

Suddenly he was there. Looking out from behind a pile of rubble at his parents. They were standing in a small clearing surrounded by splicers.

Most of the splicers carried hooks or knives, but a few carried guns.

"Come on sweetie, give me a little sugar." One of the taller ones called out to Isaacs mother. Another splicers let out a loud whistle.

Isaacs father took a few steps closer to his wife and readied his M1928 Thomson. Isaacs mother did the same.

"Ohh, looks like they want a fight. Get 'em boys! Another splicer shouted.

In a split second the gun wielding splicers were on the ground, brought down by a hail of bullets from Isaacs parents.

They stood back to back in the center of the clearing, gunning down the remaining splicers.

Suddenly, both guns clicked dry. A thuggish splicer swung his axe at Isaacs mother.

She deflected the attack with the gun and delivered a skull crushing hit to the head with the butt of her weapon.

She spun and kicked another charging splicer away, reloading the gun with a second drum magazine in the process.

She fired a half second burst and spun to help her husband, who was currently trying to beat two splicers off of him with the butt of his own gun.

A quick burst dealt with both splicers and as quickly as the fight had started, there was silence.

Isaac's mother crouched to help her husband to his feet. His coat was torn and he clutched his ribs. Blood dribbled down the corner of his mouth.

Isaac's mother said something, but he could not make it out.

Out of nowhere, a brute splicers crashed into both of his parents in a dead out sprint.

Isaac's father was thrown one direction and his mother was thrown the other.

Isaac's mother was up in a flash, approaching the brute splicer from behind as he stomped toward Isaac's father, who lay on his back in a heap.

She shouldered her gun, aimed it at the back of the brute and pulled the trigger. A single bang resounded across the clearing.

A single brass case hung stuck in the bolt.

The brute jumped more from the sudden noise than the pain of the round impacting his thick hide. He spun and delivered a neck braking backhand to the sneaky woman.

Isaac watched as his mother sailed through the air and landed with a sickening noise on the rusted pipe.

Isaac closed his eyes, but he could still see the scene playing out.

Isaac's father howled.

The brute turned back toward the prone man with a smile on his face.

In a split second a revolver was in his father's hand. He fanned the hammer and emptied the six rounds into the beasts gut instantly, mortally wounding it.

Fueled by rage, the brute swung both of its fists down at Isaacs father.

"Dad!" Isaac screamed, finally finding his voice.

His voice seemed amplified in the nearly pitch black room. He was sitting in his bed.

A sob racked his body.

"Dad!"

The blankets were tangled in his lap.

Isaac dropped his head into his hands and let the tears fall. His entire body shook.

Isaac sat for a few minutes, sobbing.

Finally, he noticed the warm form next to him.

A hand grasped his shoulder lightly. He didn't move.

The hand tightened its grip and pulled gently. Isaac relented and fell back into bed.

The Sisters form cuddle up to him again. He didn't know why she did this. He assumed she just liked the warmth.

The Sister started to make as soft cooling noise. It was strangely comforting.

Isaac stared at the ceiling. He had not had that nightmare in years. What had brought it back? Maybe it was all the emotion that came with having a new friend.

He sighed, heart still beating quickly from the dream.

The protectors hand landed on his cheek again. She tugged at his head a little.

Isaac glanced over at her.

She moved her hand and held him there. They were nose to nose.

He had to look in her eyes. There was nowhere else to look. Ice blue met golden brown.

The last thing he saw before falling asleep was her eyes.

Isaac woke up peacefully. The protector was cuddled into his side while he lay on his back. The room was slightly brighter now that it was morning in Rapture.

Isaac glanced at his clock. Six A.M.

He sat up in bed and cracked his back, waking his partner.

She stretched her arms out in front of her and hit him in the back of his head. He glanced back at her and she froze, eyes still closed.

Isaac let out a short left and climbed out of bed. He stumbled as he stood, suddenly dizzy.

"Shit, guess I am going to be a little weak for a while." He muttered to himself.

He grabbed his shirt off of the chair and threw it into the sink before turning the water on, watching with interest as the water went from clear to brown and red.

Isaac glanced back at the Sister. She was sitting in bed, covers pulled up around her chest.

Isaac snatched her suit off the floor and tossed it to her. She nodded her thanks to him.

Isaac let the water run onto his shirt a little longer before splashing some of the water on his face. The frigid temperature jolted him.

He leaned on the sink for a moment before reaching to turn off the faucet. His hand passed through the handle. He reached for it again, and again he seemed to misjudge the distance.

"What the..."

Finally, he swung his hand in a wide ark, slamming it into the side of the faucet and grabbing the valve.

Then he remembered.

"One eye. Right. Bad depth perception."

Isaac curled his shirt up and squeezed most of the water off before pulling the cold piece of clothing over his head.

He turned around and found the Protector already dressed.

Isaac walked over to the cabinet which held his provisions and removed two cans of some sort of meat mixed with tomato sauce.

He placed both cans on the table and pulled two slightly rusted spoons from the sink. He took a seat and gestured for the Protector to do the same.

She raised an eyebrow before pulling the other chair out from under the table and taking a seat herself.

Isaac slid her a spoon before slamming one of the cans lid first into the rough stone countertop.

He ground the can back and forth a few times before flipping it back over and peeling the lid off. The grinding helped weaken the rim.

He slid the can to the protector before doing the same to the other can, which he kept for himself.

He began eating in silence. After a few bites, he looked up to see the Protector staring at the spoon with an curious look on her face.

Isaac ate a few more bites before finding that the Protector was still staring at the spoon.

Isaac placed his spoon down on the table before clearing his throat, drawing the attention of the Sister.

Isaac held up his spoon.

"It's to help you eat. Here, hold it like this." He gestured to his hand. She copied his actions with a little difficulty.

"Then just stick it in the can and shovel it in" He gestured again with his hand.

The Sister stared at him for a moment. Then she snorted, discarded the spoon, and tilted the can back and slurped down the contents.

Isaac laughed.

"Yah, that works too."

He tossed his spoon into the small sink and did the same to his can, finishing in seconds.

After they had both finished off the sludge in the bottom of the cans, he collected them and threw them into the sink as well.

Adjusting his position in his chair, Isaac spoke up.

"So, do you have a name?"

The Sister glanced up at him from her harvester, which she was currently tinkering with.

Omega shrugged. Did she have a name? Why did it matter? If she did have a name, no one had called her by it since she could remember

Isaac fiddled with her glove. How could she tell him she didn't know if she had a name? What would he think of her then?

She continued fiddling with her glove for a moment before catching a glimpse of her symbol, carved into the palm of her hand.

She let out a happy screech and held out her hand to him.

He looked down at her hand.

"So your name is a symbol?" He asked.

Shook her head and pointed at the symbol and held it closer to him.

"Your name is also the name of the symbol?" He asked, confused.

She nodded.

The man shrugged and grabbed her hand gently.

"Hmm. I've seen this symbol somewhere before. I don't remember where though..."

The man was quite for a moment. Omega was quickly losing hope. What if he couldn't figure out her name? How would she tell him. She couldn't correct him.

"Ah. I think it was something about religion. My mother told me it once. The alpha. The alpha and the... What was the second part... The alpha and the omega! That was it! That symbol is omega. Your name is Omega?"

She nodded happily.

"Well then Omega, my name is Isaac. Pleasure to finally know your name." Isaac said as he reached out toward Omega.

Omega stared at his hand for a moment. What did he want her to do?

She stared at his hand for a moment, slightly take back from the awkward motion.

Suddenly she remembered the action. She saw a man doing it with another man. Shaking hands. Where had she seen that before?

She reached out and shook his hand. He smiled warmly at her and she could not help but smile back. She had the right response and it pleased him!

Isaac let go of her hand and leaned back in his chair.

"Well Omega, we have a bit to do today. I have something I have been working on for a while, but first we have to go back to that apartment building where you fought all those splicers at. I want to collect those supplies."

Omega shrugged. She didn't have much she could do anyway. Little sisters were so rare these days that she was almost unneeded. All she did was hunt down feral Big Daddy's and the unusually tough brute splicer.

She felt like she had a purpose with Isaac. They had somewhere to go. Something to do. More importantly, however, being with him made her feel human again. She felt like if she was around him enough, she would become normal. Maybe she could feel something other than rage and want again.

Isaac pulled the belt and holster over his damp shirt before pulling the coat on. He planned on going to the apartment to scavenge some of the ammunition, food, and possibly the Little Sister's harvester. She could have possibly dropped it in the fight.

After they collected what they could find at the site of the battle, they would go to the dry dock where the bathysphere was being constructed.

Seeing Isaac reading himself, Omega followed. She tightened up the various straps and buckles on her suit and pulled some of the armored plates into a better position.

Isaac picked up a couple fresh magazines out of a pile he had accumulated in the corner of the room. He would have to reload them later.

After grabbing another handful of rounds for the revolver, they both walked out the door into the brightly lit hall.

Omega fiddled with her helmet, looking at the retaining pins. If they were all broken, the helmet would not stay in place on her head. She couldn't use it like this, but she did not know how to fix it.

Isaac looked down the hall before turning back to Omega and seeing her dilemma. Fixing the retaining pins would be easy.

"Hey, I can fix that for you later. Let's just see what we can find at the apartments and then I will see to it that that helmet is as good as knew."

Omega beamed. He would really do that for her?

"Anyways, it's the least I can do, seeing that I broke it."

Isaac had no idea why he had said that. Yes, he had broke it. While she was trying to kill him with her four foot long needle arm.

Omega nodded and together they moved out of the safety of the hallway and into the guts of Rapture.

They arrived at the wrecked apartment building without issue. The streets of Rapture were relatively calm, and the recent action in the area discouraged any remotely intelligent splicer from venturing near the area.

They stood shoulder to shoulder directly across from the front of the building. Isaac could see dozens of exit holes in the walls on the third and second story. The building looked like it had been through a war.

Isaac checked his gun before starting off toward the front entrance of the building, dreading what he would find inside.

On the other hand, Omega walked happily beside him, totally ready to show off her brutal handy work.

The lobby of the building was relatively clear. Some random junk was scattered on the floor from the rush of splicers that had come in after Isaac had started shooting.

The only thing that pointed out the slaughter above was a steady drip of blood through one spot on the ceiling.

Isaac glanced at Omega and gestured toward the drip.

Omega shrugged and started to wander around the room, as if seeing it for the first time.

Isaac sighed. This was definitely going to be a gory sight.

Isaac stepped onto the first step of the staircase and suddenly Omega was behind him, following him up the stairs.

The second floor was a small massacre. Six splicers lay in the narrow hallway, killed in various ways, varying in brutality. Long gashes, undoubtedly left from Omega's long harvester, ran along either side of the hall.

The closest two splicers to the stairs both had their throats cut and had a few stab wounds on their torsos. Neither of them held a gun. One carried a pipe and one carried a wrench.

The next pair both held long knives. One had his arm cut off at the elbow and the other had a long gash running up his back.

A spider splicer hung, pinned to the wall by its own hook through its mouth. It still grasped the handle even in death.

The splicer that lay at the bottom of the stairs going to the third floor had a short barrel .38 revolver. Isaac checked the cylinder and found that all six rounds were fired. He had no need of the weapon, so he left it.

The third floor was where the real massacre was. No less than ten splicers lay in this hallway. All of them had been armed with guns.

Brass covered the floor. The first splicer Isaac came to had a small semiautomatic pistol. He checked the caliber and found it to be a simple nine millimeter. He kicked the pistol to the side and moved to the next body.

This one held a similar pistol of the same caliber.

The next two splicers had been armed with M1928 submachine guns. Both were slightly rusted and badly beaten. Isaac pulled the drums out and strapped them onto the back of his pack. He checked the bodies for any spare ammo.

Most of these splicers had been killed by having either their throat cut or being disemboweled. The whole floor stank of blood and shit.

The next few splicers held small pistols and the occasional revolver or double barrel shotgun.

Isaac cringed as he waded through the gore. Omega had really gone all out on this gang.

A single splicer lay on its back up against the end of the hallway with a gun across its lap. Blood had soaked through its shirt in various different places.

Isaac glanced at the gun across its lap. It appeared to be some sort of lever action rifle.

Isaac picked up the gun and ran his hand across the stock. It was smooth to the touch. The whole gun had some weight to it and seemed like an excellent piece. Almost too nice for a simple splicer to be in possession of.

He pulled the lever down, expecting a large magnum round or something of the sort to come out. Instead, a shotgun shell flew out onto the floor.

"Interesting. Haven't seen a lever action shotgun before." Isaac muttered to himself.

He picked up the shell from the ground. Twelve gauge. Fairly common.

He slipped the round up the loading ramp and looked back at Omega.

She was standing quietly in the center of the hall, watching him intently. Her eyes bore into the gun.

After a moment of consideration, Isaac held the gun out to her, stock first. A Big Sister with a shotgun was going to be a force of nature.

"Do you know how to use a gun?" He asked slowly.

Omega glanced up from the shotgun. She had begun stroking it softly.

She shook her head.

"Well this kind is simple. Here, let me show you." Isaac said as he took the gun from her grasp.

"Simply push the lever down, pull it up, point, and pull the trigger."

Omega nodded and snatched the gun from his grasp again.

"I'll show you how to reload it later. Let's get out of here as fast as possible."

Omega nodded again.

Isaac turned and walked into the room where the Little Sister had been held.

The bodies of the gang that Isaac had followed to the apartment still lay in the positions they had fallen.

Isaac waded through the spent brass and approached the corner where the Sister had been tied up.

He spotted it under the cushion of an upturned couch. The bottle to the harvester. He had found the last part.

He reached down to grab it. Sure enough, it was the harvester, still full of ADAM.

Isaac turned back toward the door and held up the harvester.

Omega was standing in the door, watching him with mild interest. The white face of the splicer that had been at the end of the hall appeared behind her head. It took a moment for Isaac to realize what that meant.

"Omega look..." Was all Isaac managed to get out before the splicer swung its weapon.

Isaac had no idea of how a living thing could move that fast. In a fraction of a second, she had ducked under the blow that she had not even seen coming.

The hook sunk into the doorframe with a solid _thunk_. The splicer gave the hook a solid tug, but the hook would not budge.

Omega snap-kicked the splicer in the chest, sending him reeling back into the wall on the other side of the hall. Her harvester-wielding arm shot forward and skewered him though the shoulder. The shotgun barrel was in the monsters mouth in the blink of an eye, held in one hand by Omega.

The splicer started laughing.

With a mix between a bang and a thump, the splicers life ended in a spray of blood and brain matter.

Omega pulled her harvester out of the monsters shoulder and twirled the shotgun in one hand, ejecting the spent shell and reloading in one smooth spinning movement. The splicer slid down the wall and revealed a golf ball sized hole in the drywall surrounded by gore.

Isaac's jaw was agape.

Omega blew the smoke of the barrel of the shotgun and smiled at him.

"You catch on really fast. " He said with a laugh.

Omega shrugged her shoulders and walked down the stairs.

"She's definitely going to be a force of nature."

Isaac slid the harvester into his pack and started off down the stairs after Omega.

Omega was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, stroking the barrel of the shotgun affectionately. As Isaac walked past she perked up and followed him out the front door of the shot up apartment building.

Isaac traced his steps back the way that he had run the day before. He wanted to retrieve his armor before moving on to the bathysphere. He felt sort of naked without the metal plate pressed into his chest.

After a dozen or so turns, they arrived at the dark alley that Isaac recognized from the day before.

In the corner lay the chest plate.

Isaac strode over slowly and picked the cold metal up off of the damp floor.

He flipped the plate over in his hands and checked the inside.

Hanging on the inside through a hole he had drilled in the corner of the plate was his mothers silver cross, dangling on a chain.

A feeling of relief washed over him. It was still there. Good.

He pulled the chest plate under his coat, strapped it on, and tightened the straps down.

Isaac turned around to find Omega watching him intently.

"Alright. Now we go to my little project. Follow me."

Omega nodded and followed him as he brushed past her.

* * *

More fluff and char development in this chapter. I had to work in the little section about trying to figure out the name. I have read too many Bioshock FF's in which the MC can just rattle off the symbols of the greek alphabet. I don't think that's really common knowledge.

Review! Please! Gimme some feed back!

Keep chillen! Hope you enjoyed!


	7. Chapter 7

I couldn't resist posting another chapter! I mean come on, 7 DAYS IN A ROW. I'm pretty proud of myself.

Well anyway, here is chapter 7. Hope you guys enjoy. There is a bit more character building here and there. I thought this one was turned out pretty good

* * *

Omega had seen that symbol inside Isaac's armor before. In fact, she had seen it many times before.

The symbol was something else that had been taken from her. She had known that symbol at some point. She may not remember where she had seen it, or how it related to her, but she knew she had once known the symbol. It was so familiar to her.

Besides the symbol, the armor that Isaac wore made her more comfortable. His fragile life could not be taken so easily anymore. She could have a companion for awhile longer.

Omega had seen how fragile the human life was. She had watched the humans butcher each other with such ease. Simple things such as a knife or gun could give one human such power over another. They could not take as much abuse as their spliced brethren.

Omega had always stayed away from humans. She had never killed a human. They seemed far too innocent to harm and didn't hunt her little sisters like the splicers did.

Her sisters, however, killed them with indifference. They killed anyone that got in their way.

Omega sometimes wondered if her sisters felt anything at all. They never really tried to communicate in depth with each other, they killed with indifference, and they never seemed to question their jobs.

Omega wondered how they could be so different.

Maybe they were like the humans and the splicers. They were nearly the same thing, but so different in some ways.

Isaac seemed so different than the splicers, and she felt so different than her sisters.

Isaac walked quickly through the halls of Rapture. Once he got back to the front of the apartment building he called home, he could find his way to the bathysphere easily.

After about thirty minutes of random turns, the half destroyed neon sign that marked home came into view.

Isaac let out a sigh of relief. He had nearly thought that he had gotten lost. He had not been lost in years. He always kept track of the turns he took and directions he traveled.

The past under the gently swinging sign.

"Alright Omega, we are almost there. Just a little bit further now."

Omega nodded her head and resumed humming and stroking the barrel of the shotgun.

Isaac shook his head. She was getting really weird about the shotgun.

* * *

After about another half hour of walking, they arrived at the large doors of an upscale home.

The building looked relatively normal from the outside, except for the large sculptures and light fixtures hanging off of the walls. The whole place seemed a bit gaudy.

Isaac pushed the double wooden doors open.

The inside of the house looked far worse than the outside. Nearly the entire thing had been gutted by some horrible fire that had taken place during the beginning of the Rapture civil war. The building had been the private home of some important person in Rapture at the time of the war. The person had their own bathysphere and dry dock for said machine.

When the place had burned, it was abandoned. Isaacs mother had recognized the lock system that secured the dry dock and managed to get it open.

Isaac entered the code into the singed keypad on the door. After a second, the door slid back slowly, revealing a large metal room.

In the center of the room sat the manifestation of over nine years of labor by both Isaac and his parents.

The craft had no distinguishable shape. Rather, it was a bunch of wires and pipes hanging out of a fairly circular body. To the Isaac's trained eye, he was able to make out each of the major systems of the bathysphere.

"Well here it is. My life's work"

* * *

Omega was staring in shock at the machine in the center of the room. Just what _was_ this thing.

She glanced at Isaac's face and shot him a confused look.

He took a moment to answer.

"It's a bathysphere."

A bathysphere? Like the ones that had been disabled all those years ago? What did he need a bathysphere for?

Seeing that she was still confused, Isaac continued.

"Like, for going to the surface..."

The surface? He was going to take that to the surface? He was going to leave her?

She seized his arm and gave him the best pitiful look she could muster. She had to convince him to stay with her.

Isaac looked back at her, now wearing a confused look of his own.

"Why the sad face? We could escape to the surface together. I have no one to take with me anyway. The bathysphere was designed to hold three."

He planned on taking her in the first place? He cared about her!

Wait... They were escaping. She would finally be able to see the surface again! Maybe that would bring some of her memories back. Maybe she could get her voice back!

Omega squealed happily and bounced on her feet.

* * *

Isaac was a little surprised by Omega's reaction when he told her they could leave together. He had expected a bit of confusion, but not a jumping display of happiness.

"Alright, but first let's get your helmet fixed up. I still have a few days worth of welding on this thing and I want to be able to take someone out of here with me."

Omega nodded happily and handed her damaged helmet to him.

Isaac walked over to one of the many work tables in the large room and cleared it off quickly.

He placed the dented helmet on the table and grabbed an arc welder power pack as well as a small hammer from under the table.

He picked up the hammer and started working on the large dent left by the magnum round.

After a few solid hits with the hammer, the dent had still not shrunk. In fact, it had not changed in any way. The hard steel was proving more difficult to work than Isaac had expected.

Isaac reached under the table and pulled a blowtorch out from one of the boxes.

He lit the torch up and held the flame on the dent for a nearly a minute.

A few more hits from the hammer and the dent was gone.

With the dent fixed, Isaac moved on to the more important problem.

The retaining pins around the base of the helmet had all been sheared off or cracked off. Luckily, most of the pins had fallen inside the helmet, which meant Isaac did not have to go looking for a similar metal to repair the helmet with.

Isaac isolated the pin and started up the welder and pulled on a pair of welding goggles.

For a moment, the whole room was filled with the blindingly bright arc, and then it was plunged into near total darkness.

Omega jumped and Isaac fumbled to pull the goggles off.

"What the fuck..."

The room glowed with the battery powered emergency lights.

"Powers out. Just great. Totally fucking great."

Isaac threw the goggles onto the counter and stumbled blindly to Omega.

"I guess we have to go figure out how we are going to get the power back on. Nothing can be done here until we have power." Isaac said as he felt around for one of the toolboxes he knew were near the door.

"I know where the nearest geothermal turbine is. My parents and I had to fix it once before." Isaac continued as he grabbed the tool box triumphantly.

"This shouldn't take more than an hour or two."

Isaac grabbed Omega's hand as he walked toward the door.

"Stay close to me. Splicers might get a little gutsy now that it's dark."

Omega nodded and followed closely behind him as they walked out of the dry dock.

Isaac slid the large metal door shut behind them.

* * *

Navigating to the nearest turbine would have been impossible with the lights out had the emergency lights not been color coded to guide workers to the turbine. Isaac silently thanked the engineers of Rapture for this life saving addition.

Isaac followed the lights as quickly and quietly as he could. The last thing he wanted to be doing was fighting splicers in the dark.

The halls of Rapture were infinitely more eerie in the dull emergency lighting. Each room appeared colorless and grey. Pools of water looked like pools of blood. Pools of blood looked like puddles of tar.

A few more turns brought them to a fairly wide hallway. It was not as big as the one Isaac had met Omega in, but was still fairly large for Rapture.

Isaac picked up the pace as they moved into the more open space. Both sides of the hall had alleys extending into the darkness.

Isaac was now moving at a slow jog, glancing from side to side, checking each alley.

A bit of light glinted off his chest piece and illuminated one of the alleys.

Isaac skidded to a stop.

He swore he had just seen a dress.

He slowly walked over to the alley, gun at the ready.

The floor creaked underfoot. Rapture was more silent than usual, as if holding its breath.

Isaac stood at the mouth of the alley. Now that he was closer, he could make out the form of young girl curled on the ground.

Isaac tightened his jaw. He was not going to like what he found if he investigated this. He had to, however. He owed it to the young girl.

Isaac approached the body slowly. He kneeled down and rolled the girl onto her back.

The little sisters harvester clattered to the ground out of her cold hands.

The girls face was a mask of terror. Her belly had been cut open.

Isaac turned his head away and cleared his throat. He knew it. She had been harvested.

Isaac heard Omega approach him from behind. He stood and brushed past her.

She crouched down and examined the body. He heard her a soft sniffle followed by a light screech. Then he heard her knuckles crack.

She stalked past him. Isaac didn't even try to console her. He didn't need to see a porthole to know she was enraged.

Isaac continued to follow the lights down the hallway, Omega giving off waves of fury behind him.

Isaac was glad the fury wasn't directed at him this time.

* * *

They walked into the room containing the turbine after a few more minutes of walking.

Isaac dropped his tool box in the center of the room and started off towards the small office in the large room. There was probably a switch to activate the battery powered emergency work lights inside there.

He approached the door casually.

An axe blade swung out of the door towards his neck.

Isaac barely threw the barrel of his gun up in time to deflect the strike. Sparks flew into the air and the gun was nearly knocked from Isaac's hands from the impact.

Isaac lashed out with his free hand and caught the assailant with a brutal right hook.

A familiar cry shot through the dark.

Isaac stopped in his tracks.

"Gary?"

The man in the dark stopped moving

"Isaac?"

Isaac grabbed the man and pulled him into the light before embracing him.

"Holy shit Gary! I haven't seen you in like six years!"

Gary simply stood still as Isaac embraced him.

"Yah, yah. How's your parents doin?"

Isaac froze.

"They, ah, they didn't make it."

Gary froze.

"They... jeeze. Who the hell did you live with after that?"

Isaac shook his head.

"No one. My family had no good friends. You disappeared after helping us with some of the electronics on the bathysphere that one time. Didn't you want to come with us?"

Gary shrugged.

"I just didn't feel like you needed my help anymore. Anyways, I was being followed by some bad people. I didn't want you to get involved with them."

Isaac frowned.

"Oh, I didn't know about that. Anyway, where is Tom?"

Gary shrugged again.

"I have no idea. He split after I helped you guys. We figured that by breaking apart, we would lose some of the heat we had gained with one of the local gangs. Haven't seen him since."

Isaac nodded.

"Well I hope he's okay. He seemed like he could take care of himself from what I can remember of him"

Gary nodded.

"Yah, he was a real tough guy. Good man."

Isaac nodded and turned toward the turbine in the center of the room.

"Well, I think you know why we are here Gary. Power just went out. I came by to fix it."

Gary laughed.

"I have been doing upkeep on this turbine for the past six years. I saw this coming. One of the bearings has been running a little hot for the past two years. I didn't want to replace it early, so I just let it run its life. I could use your help replacing it though."

Isaac grinned.

"Gary, I haven't worked with anyone in four years. It'll be great to finally have a working partner for once."

Gary smacked Isaac on the shoulder.

"Great. We should have this done in minutes."

Isaac prayed that was all the time it would take. The turbine room made his gut twist up. It didn't feel right.

* * *

Isaac could smell the ADAM on this man Gary. She could tell that he had spliced. Even though he looked totally normal, he was changed.

She also didn't like the way he talked to Isaac. He was too friendly. She was Isaacs companion, not him. Why did he get to talk to Isaac and she had to watch? It wasn't fair.

She also didn't like the fact that he looked guilty.

She could see it in his eyes as he talked to Isaac. He was hiding something. Something very, very bad that most likely involved Isaac.

Omega was glad that she had not been spotted by Gary. She wanted to have the element of surprise if something bad were to happen.

Omega sniffed the air as the two men walked away to work on the turbine.

ADAM was in the air. It was much more concentrated than just one slightly spliced man.

In fact, it smelled like one of her sisters had been in the area.

That couldn't be right though. She had not smelled any sort of protector. One of her younger sisters could not have passed through the area without a protector.

Omega decided to patrol the area as the men worked. Maybe she could find clues about the smell of her sisters that hung in the air.

* * *

Isaac was thrilled at not having to troubleshoot and repair the turbine on his own. It would have taken him days, not that he would have admitted that to Omega. He had almost no memory of working on the turbine the last time and did not want to have to get totally reacquainted with the machine.

Isaac dropped the small toolbox in front of the generator that was connected to the turbine. He could see one of the bearings through the piles of wires and gears.

The only clue to the bearing being faulty was the streaks of boiled grease pouring out the sides of the ring. The grease was still bubbling gently.

Isaac stared at the bearing, tucked behind all the machinery. How the hell were they going to be getting this thing out?

Gary walked up beside him.

"You see, the entire generator here is mounted on a swing arm. It swings straight away from the turbine and to the left. All we have to do is pull the bolts of the plate connecting the shaft of the generator to the turbine there and then we pull the generator back. After that, we simply drop the service plate under the bearing and pull it off. I have a new one in the office. The bearings weigh about a hundred pounds each, but that shouldn't be too much of an issue."

Isaac nodded and scratched his chin. It sounded so simple, but nothing involving machines like this was ever actually as simple it sounded. Just looking at the machine proved his thoughts correct.

Each nut was in an awkward position, surrounded by jagged metal edges. Getting the generator detached from the turbine would take a good hour and a fairly large wrench.

Isaac sighed.

"Eh, it ain't that bad. Well, not for me at least. Have fun." Gary said as he handed Isaac a large wrench.

This was definitely going to be more difficult than he had originally thought.

* * *

Omega had finally traced out the perimeter of the whole turbine room from the outside halls.

There were only four entrances. She assumed that Gary came from the one closest to the office of the turbine room. That narrowed her search down enough to cover the area in the time it took for them to fix most of the turbine. She wanted to be back to Isaac by the time he had fixed the turbine.

The scent of ADAM grew stronger in this area. She had chosen correctly. Somewhere on this side of the building was her sister.

* * *

Isaac had his arm buried up to his elbow in the guts of the machine. There was a nut nearly under the generator that could only be reached through the top of the generator. It was the lowest nut on the plate that was connected to the turbine. He figured that it was best to start with the most difficult part of the process.

The sharp metal dug into various parts of his forearm. Each time he moved to adjust the wrench to find a grip on the nut, they cut small gashes into his arm. He could fill the blood trickling down his arm, making his palm slick.

Isaac fiddled around for a few more moments.

"Come on. I can feel the nut right there. Almost got it..."

The wrench slid onto the nut. Isaac nearly jumped for joy.

_ Clang!_

"_Fuck!"_

The wrench had slipped from his bloody grasp.

Isaac grabbed one of the work lights and pulled it over the generator.

Now he had to find the wrench.

* * *

Omega had cleared the majority of small buildings in the area that she had decided to search first. The smell had gotten slightly stronger as she distanced herself from the turbine building, but was not strong enough for her to accurately locate yet.

She had a suspicion that the apartment building down a few blocks was where she would find what she was looking for, but she wanted to be through in her search.

With a sigh, she started searching through the next row of buildings. Progress was slow but sure.

* * *

Isaac wiggled his fingers into the dark crevice at the bottom of the generator. He knew the wrench was in there. He knew the wrench was in there because it was the one place he could not reach.

"Come on you little shit, come to papa. You know you want to come out of that god damn crevice..."

Isaac stretched as far as he could. His shoulder popped and suddenly his fingers brushed the cold steel of the tool.

"Fucking _finally_"

Isaac gripped the wrench firmly and slapped it onto the nut, loosening the bolt and finally detaching the first part of the plate from the turbine.

Isaac pulled his arm out from the depths of the machine and set the wrench on a ledge next to the generator.

He rubbed his sore shoulder and glanced at the tool that he had finally found.

Wait, the wrench that he had dropped hadn't said _"Property of Arthur Fishker"_ on it.

"What the hell?" He muttered.

"Your doing great kid!" Gary called from inside the office.

"Yah, whatever."

Isaac shook his head and started looking for the next bolt that needed to be removed.

* * *

Omega had finally cleared the final row of empty buildings. She had found nothing. Not even anything worth scavenging.

The apartment building loomed before her. The smell was stronger here. Her sister was definitely in this building.

Omega approached the front door cautiously. She had no idea what could be lurking in the dimly lit building.

The emergency lights dimmed a little, growing near the end of their battery power supply.

Even without her augmented helmet, Omega was still an excellent night hunter. She might not be able to make out full shapes in the pitch black darkness that could be found only in the deepest corners of Rapture, but she could sense the movement.

Omega started up the stairs, the smell was definitely getting stronger. She could pinpoint the location now.

Her sister was maybe two stories up and down the hall.

She pounded up the stairs.

One floor.

Two floors.

She opened the door to the hall softly.

"Gary open up, we have your food here. Just open the damn door or were coming in there!" A single splicer shouted from outside one of the apartment doors.

Omega started sprinting down the hall.

The splicer turned and saw her.

"Fu..." The splicer started, but was ended mid word with a harvester through the mouth.

Isaac pulled the deceased splicer off her syringe and smelled the air outside the door. This was definitely it.

She kicked down the door. What she found inside made her heart drop into her gut and her vision turn red.

* * *

Well there is chapter 7. Cliff hanger cause cliffs hang.

I took the little turbine fixing part from my experience working on some old natural gas and diesel generators with my dad. Every nut is tucked in somewhere damn near unreachable and dropping a tool usually ends up costing you a lot of time. Last one I worked on I was up to my elbows in rat shit. Good stuff.

Hope you enjoyed! Review if you like cookies!


	8. Chapter 8

Hey guys! I know I missed the update yesterday, but it was for good reason. I looked at everything I wrote two days ago, highlighted it, and hit delete.

It was good, but not in its proper place.

Senpen Banka, the symbol was a cross. I noticed the messed up names after i posted, lol. Posting while tired is a bad idea.

Here's chapter 8! Hope you enjoy

* * *

Isaac held the last bolt up triumphantly.

"Done! The generator is detached from the turbine. Let's move this bitch!" Isaac called out as he pulled himself out from under the slightly rusted generator.

A scream and thud answered him.

Isaac shot up from his prone position.

Omega had Gary pinned to the wall by his neck. She had not killed him. Yet.

"Omega, what the fuck is going on?" Isaac yelled.

"What the hell Isaac, you know this thing?" Gary called out in a choked voice.

Isaac rushed over to Omega just as Gary slammed the blunt side of his axe into the side of her head. Omega stumbled back stunned. Isaac placed himself between them both.

Isaac spotted the two little sisters next to the office.

"Look, Isaac, I know you never wanted anything to do with this ADAM shit or splicing stuff, but I had to take the ADAM. I needed food man! I could trade that stuff for anything!" Gary screamed quickly.

Omega was trying to push past Isaac, practically foaming at the mouth. She let out a screech as Isaac held her back.

"Omega calm down!" Isaac yelled.

She slammed into him, throwing him to the side a few feet.

Omega had Gary pinned to the wall instantly.

Isaac shot up from his prone position and covered the distance to the pair.

_Thunk_

Isaac blinked as he was splattered with a mix of bone and brain matter.

Omega twirled the shotgun in one hand, reloading it.

Isaac blinked again. There was dead silence except for the hollow clatter of a shotgun shell bouncing on the metal floor.

"You killed Gary!" Isaac screamed.

Omega spun to him and slapped him.

Isaac was stunned, less from the pain of the slap and more from the fact that she had actually _slapped _him.

He looked back at her face to see tears in her eyes. She pointed at the two little sisters sitting next to the office.

Then he realized it. They were both gutted.

Isaac was quiet for a moment.

He spun and punched the steel wall, letting loose a wordless shout.

Isaac slumped down the wall, head in his hands.

He remained silent for a minute.

"Take me to where he was living..."

Omega nodded.

* * *

Isaac paused at the door into Gary's apartment. This was so wrong. He was going to loot the apartment of one of his friends who had just been killed.

After a moment, the moral dilemma was over.

He killed two young girls. He forfeited his right to privacy when he did that.

Isaac walked slowly into the dark apartment. The emergency lights were nearly out in this part of the city. When they got back to the turbine room, Isaac would need to get the bearing in fast.

The apartment was small, and like the rest of Rapture had a large amount of water damage to the ceiling and walls.

In one of the corners of the room, the ceiling had caved in, dumping insulation into a small pile on the floor. The drywall was losing its paper and there was mold covering most of the carpeted floor.

Isaac would have called the place a dumb, but the truth was that his place didn't look much better.

Isaac walked over to the cabinets hung above the rusted sink.

"He said he traded ADAM for food right? There has to be a huge amount of food here somewhere. Two little sisters worth of ADAM should have got him a long way." Isaac said. Even though many thought that the little sisters were not even close to human anymore, Isaac still felt a little wrong talking about them like they were some kind of currency.

Omega nodded. It would only make sense that the apartment would be loaded down with food with the amount of ADAM Gary had harvested from the little sisters.

Isaac opened the cabinets. They were empty.

He bent down and opened the drawers and cabinets under the sink. They were empty as well.

"Where the hell is all the food?"

Omega started to search as well. Nearly all the cabinets were empty.

Isaac was dumbstruck.

"Well shit. What did he trade the ADAM for then?"

Omega shrugged. How would she know?

Isaac looked around the room once more. There was nowhere else the food could be.

He spotted the two blood stains from the little sister corpses. There was a door next to the spots, probably leading to a closet.

Isaac walked over to the door and tried the knob. It was locked.

"This might be it." He called back to Omega, who was standing guard at the door into the apartment.

Isaac took a few steps back and snap kicked the door.

It shook, but did not give.

He kicked again. The hinges wiggled, but were not going to give anytime soon.

He kicked a third time. Nothing happened.

His leg was starting to hurt at this point.

"Hey, Omega, could you get this door down?"

Omega turned and walked over to the door wordlessly.

A single kick reduced the door to splinters. She shook her head and turned back to the entrance to the apartment. Isaac frowned. She made it look so easy.

He walked into the closet. His jaw dropped.

The first thing he noticed was that this was far larger than a closet. It was easily half the size of the rest of the apartment.

The second thing he noticed was that half the room was stuffed with food and medical supplies. Morphine shots, bandages, splints, all the medical supplies a small family would need.

The final thing he noticed was the huge amount of ADAM along one wall. Some jars had slugs, some were just liquid ADAM.

"Omega, look at this!"

The sister was beside him a moment.

"Look at how much ADAM there is!"

Omega grunted. She hated to think of how many sisters it took to make this stockpile.

"He must have been harvested so many sisters. Sick fuck. I thought he was a good man, but this... this is sick."

Omega nodded.

Isaac walked in and started collecting food and medical supplies. It took a couple minutes, but he managed to fill his entire pack.

Isaac turned and walked back into the apartment.

"All right Omega, let's get out of here before..."

Isaac froze. There were six armed splicers in the main room of the apartment, all of them had guns pointed at Omega.

As soon as Isaac came into view, a few of them pointed their guns at him.

They all stood still for a moment.

One of the splicers spoke up.

"Who the hell are you and where's Gary?"

Isaac fumbled for an answer.

"Were, uh, friends of Gary's. We were just checking up on the place. He's, uh, out working on the turbine."

The splicer squinted at him.

A second splicer spoke up.

"I think they was just here to steal all that ADAM he's got!"

Isaac answered quickly.

"Of course not! He wanted to protect that for you! In fact, he wanted to give the rest of his stash for holding up your end of the deal! It's all back there. Just take a look and give us the food and medical supplies you owed him."

The splicers glanced back and forth a few times.

"Alright, bring in the stuff!" The one that had spoke first called into the hallway.

Two burlap bags were tossed into the apartment.

The splicer kicked the bags over to them.

"There you go. Medical and food in both bags. Now get outa here." The splicer growled.

Isaac nodded his thanks and walked toward the door, the splicers guns finally pointing at the floor.

Isaac stopped before walking out the door.

"Ah, now that I think about it, Gary wanted me to grab a pair of keys he dropped behind the stove. I'm gonna grab those." He called out. The splicers were to stunned by the shear amount of ADAM to care what he said.

Isaac dropped the bag on the floor and reached behind the gas stove.

He felt around for a few seconds before he found what he was looking for. He twisted the valve open on the back of the stove and pulled the gas line out.

Isaac stood up and picked up the bag before turning and winking at Omega.

They walked out the door together. On their left was a single armed splicer and the stairs they had come up, and on their right were three splicers armed with 1928s.

Isaac grinned to himself. This was the perfect setup.

He leaned next to the splicer to the left of the door and pulled out a box of cigarettes.

He held out the box to the splicer. The splicer raised an eyebrow.

Isaac snorted.

"What, you don't smoke?"

The splicer shook his head and pulled a stick out of the box. Isaac did the same. He pulled his lighter out, lit the splicer up and then his own.

Isaac puffed slowly on the cig, blowing a thick cloud of smoke in the hall.

The splicer cupped his hands around the stick and sucked.

Isaac listened to the quiet murmur coming from the apartment. They were probably deciding on how to divide the ADAM. Isaac was surprised they hadn't started shooting each other yet. This was a pretty tight group that seemed to know what they were doing. They had set up a perimeter before going in and were not totally ADAM crazy.

Isaac puffed some more on the cig. Omega shifted uncomfortably next to him. Things were going to get loud very soon.

Omega began tapping her foot softly.

Isaac heard a voice break the murmur inside the apartment.

"Hey, do you smell that?"

"Yah. Smells like... eggs?"

Isaac puffed a finally time on the cigarette and flicked the butt into the room.

Nothing happened for a split second.

"Well shit. That was anticlimactic." Isaac thought to himself.

_Booooom!_

The blast blew the entire wall on the other side of the door down. Isaac was thrown with Omega down the hall. He landed on top of the splicer he had given the smoke to.

Isaac couldn't hear anything. Dust filled the entire hallway, making it nearly impossible to see anything.

Isaac could make out the distant sounding shouts from the other part of the hall. They knew that he had caused the blast.

Isaac lay still for a moment until he felt heat on his arm. He glanced down and quickly slapped out the small blaze that had started on his sleeve.

Isaac wrapped his arm around the splicers neck and hoisted him up, using the splicers body to protect himself from the predicted hail of bullets.

Isaac started walking back slowly from the apartment. He saw Omega scramble to her feet out of the corner of his eye. The hallway was narrow and a firefight would be hell.

"Get behind me!" He shouted as loud as he could. She was further from the blast than him and probably had better hearing.

Omega perked up and spun to his voice. He pointed behind him and she ducked slightly behind his back, readying her shotgun.

Through the dust he could see a sudden burst of muzzle flashes. He could hear the distant sound of gunfire.

The bullets tore up the walls of the narrow hallway. The splicer that Isaac held in front of him jerked randomly. They continued to slowly back up.

With his free hand, Isaac pointed his M-3 down the hall and fired a couple bursts. All he had to do was make them keep their heads down for a few moments, and they could make it to the stairs.

Omega leaned out from behind him and fired a few blasts from her shotgun down the hall. They were halfway to the stairs.

Another burst of gunfire traced up the walls beside them. The splicer Isaac jerked a few more times and the fell still.

They were a few feet away from the stairs.

Isaac dropped the splicer. He couldn't pull the dead weight any longer.

Isaac fired a long burst until the gun clicked empty. He dropped the magazine out and slammed in a new one.

Three rounds jack-hammered into his chest, knocking the breath out of him.

Isaac stumbled into the wall, firing an answering burst from the hip into the dust cloud.

Omega grabbed his shoulder and started leading him back.

Omega kicked open the door to the stairs as Isaac dumped another magazine down the hall.

Just as Isaac spun to run down the stairs after her he felt something slam into his upper thigh.

He hopped on one leg down the stairs.

They burst out into the street as fast as Isaac could hobble along, still carrying the bags of supplies the splicers had given them.

The adrenaline carried them all the way to the turbine room.

As soon as they got in the room, Isaac turned to Omega.

"Did you get hit at all? Feel anything break in the blast? Are you okay?" He shot questions at her as he spun her around, checking for any wounds.

She shook her head repeatedly and finally grabbed his hands and pushed them down to his sides.

Isaac drew a shaky breath and dropped his bag onto the ground. Omega did the same.

Isaac rushed into the office and grabbed a crowbar and the large bearing.

He pried the old bearing off and slid the new one in, swinging the generator back into place and spinning a few of the easiest bolts back in.

The lights slowly came back on.

"I don't think that we are going to be doing much work today. Let's just get back to the apartment." Isaac muttered tiredly as he pulled the bag of supplies back onto his shoulder.

Omega nodded and followed him.

The first thing to hit the floor when Isaac walked into his apartment was the bag of supplies. The second was the chest plate, which had three shining new, large dents in it.

Omega threw her bag next to Isaacs and sat down on the bed, totally exhausted.

"Are you sure you are okay?"

She nodded.

Isaac pulled a chair in front of the sink and pulled of his now bloody shirt.

There were small patches of glinting lead shrapnel in three different locations on his chest. Blood oozed slowly out of them.

Isaac looked at the wounds with surprise.

"Huh, that is a lot of spall..." He muttered as he pulled a pair of tweezers out of his pack with shaking hands. The adrenaline was finally wearing out.

He splashed some alcohol on a rag and brought the tweezers to his chest.

He reached for a rather large piece of shrapnel, but missed badly. His hands were shaking too badly to do this kind of work.

After a few more tries, he placed the tweezers down on the counter with a sigh.

Omega pulled a chair up in front of him and picked the tweezers up before sitting down.

She placed a cool hand on his chest and leaned in with the tweezers.

Isaac closed his eyes as she worked, tugging at the little bits of metal stuck in his skin.

He hissed in pain as she dabbed the wound with the rag.

He could smell her now. The same sweet smell he had noticed the night before. At first it scared him. Now it was sort of comforting.

After a couple of minutes, Omega tapped his chest. Isaac opened his eyes and looked down. She had gotten all of the spall out.

"Thanks. Couldn't have done that myself." He said quietly as he rubbed his thigh. Pain was coming off in waves from his upper thigh.

He looked down. There was a small hole in his pants and a large patch of blood around it.

Isaacs breath caught in his throat. When did that happen.

Isaac tugged his pants down slightly to get a closer look.

He laughed out of fear. He had been lucky enough to take a shot to the thigh and not blow an artery. The wound had already clotted and was a clean through and through shot.

Isaac grabbed the rag and wiped the blood off from around the wound. He slapped a gauze pad on it and taped down the corners.

The pain was steadily getting worse now. Isaac let out a short groan.

He reached into his pack and pulled out one of the morphine syringes he had grabbed from Gary's place.

He shot the drug up and relief flooded him. He let out a long sigh and slumped in the chair.

He sat there for a moment before pulling himself out of the chair. Omega stood with him and watched him intently.

He pulled back the sheets on the small mattress and sat down on the edge of the bed as Omega started to pull her suit.

She groaned as she reached for one of the zippers on her back. She was so sore from the blast that she couldn't reach it.

She grunted as she stretched a little further.

Isaac reached over and pulled the zipper down for her. Her pale skin came into view. Isaac stared at the smooth skin for a moment.

He had no idea what he was doing. He reached up to the back of her neck and stroked down the newly exposed flesh, tugging the suit down further.

If she was sore, he would try to fix that.

He kneaded his hands into her shoulders, trying to work out the stiffness in her back.

She let out another groan, leaning back into his hands.

Isaac tugged the suit down to her waist and pulled her onto the bed. He started rubbing her whole back down.

He could practically feel her melting under his fingertips. She buried her face into his pillow and moaned.

He slid his hands over the pockmark scars from bullet wounds. She had been wounded so many times. Her skin wore her fights like medals.

Isaac continued massaging her back for a few more minutes. When she finally seemed totally relaxed, he tugged the rest of her suit off and threw it onto the floor.

He forced himself to keep his eyes off her gorgeous rear as he pulled the sheets over her and turned off the light next to the bed.

He slid into the bed next to her and in an instant she was on top of him, cuddling up to him and drinking in his smell.

The sweet smell she gave off was stronger than he had ever noticed it before. Isaac drew a deep breath in and relaxed.

Isaac buried his face in her hair and fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

Omega had started feeling warmer and warmer as Isaac worked her back.

This was what she wanted. It felt so good to have his rough hand running over her body.

It also felt good to have the soreness forced out of her body. Too long had she weathered the aftermaths of bad fights alone. She had once taken on a group of brute splicers. She had won the fight, but had been too sore to move after it.

Most of all, she enjoyed feeling cared about. She had not felt the feeling of someone else's love since... before.

She sighed, wishing that she could remember before the indoctrination process. She knew she had so many memories of her life before, but they were all out of reach. They were like objects in a dark room. She could feel them there, but she couldn't _see _them.

Omega buried her face deeper into Isaacs chest. He had stopped rubbing her back as soon as she really relaxed. She wished he was still awake. Her body craved for more of his touch.

But he wasn't. She had to go without the caresses she longed for.

Instead, she settled for taking in his warmth. The feeling of his heartbeat. The sound of his breathing.

Omega settled down for a few moments.

After about ten minutes she let out a soft whine.

Why could he just wake up and touch her? Hold her? He just lay there on his back, not returning her affection at all.

Her body still burned from his prior contact.

Omega nuzzled into him more and sighed.

She wanted so much more from him, but she didn't know if he could give it to her.

* * *

There's chapter 8. Some more fluffy fluff and stuff. Hope you enjoyed it. Next update will be soon.

Review please!


	9. Chapter 9

Sorry I didn't update last week. Busy busy. Got a lot of work to do and stuff like that

Anyway, here is chapter 9! Hope you enjoy!

* * *

"Omega... Hm... Omega... Haven't heard of an Omega before." The voice called from the dark.

Isaac was silent.

"Eh, probably just a late model protector." The voice continued.

Isaac wished he could just normal dreams. Hell, even a normal nightmare would be welcome at this point.

Instead he got to feel the cold claws of the voice digging around in his mind as he slept.

"Isaac you need to protect her. Keep her safe." The voice called.

"That's what I've been trying to do all this time. That's why I saved her."

"No. I am the reason that you saved her. Don't try, just do."

With that, the voice stopped and Isaac fell into a regular sleep.

* * *

"If only you grew up in nicer times Isaac. You could see the good in people once. The kindness. People used to help each other out of the goodness of their hearts." Isaac's mother told him.

Isaac sighed. He had heard this so many times before. His mother was trying to tell him about the old days again. He had to listen otherwise she would get angry at him.

"People have no fear of corruption here. They have no fear of life. They do not worry about the plebian morality that we had above. There are no gods down here, not even the governing force of humanity that forces us to feel right and wrong. When I was on the surface, people truly cared about the mark they left on the world. Here, people are told they are great. That is why they are here. They feel as though they have already left their good mark on the world. They turn the rest of their life into a series of bad decisions and wrong turns. Rapture is the perfect place for them to do this."

Isaac closed his eyes. This was going to be a long one. He could already tell.

"But you mark my words Isaac. Mark my words. All the water and steel in the world can't protect you from the furious righteous. This place will burn. I may have helped make it, but I will be the first to say it. A place like this can't last. It may not be one man, it may not be intentional, but this place will be gone soon enough. Societies don't last when no one has a good bone in their body. When people don't fear ignoring what they know is wrong. It will all come crumbling down, and I hope you will be there to see it. So you know. You know where this sort of thing takes humanity to."

Isaac's mother grabbed his head, holding it gently between he hands.

"And I want you to tell everyone what you saw. That no matter how hard it is, no matter how dangerous it is, doing something good that leads to your death will always leave the world better off than doing something for your own survival." She whispered to him.

Isaac was stunned.

"And when you tell them this, they will know you are a hypocrite. You will know you are a hypocrite. Because you have to live. You have to live to show them what a mindless urge for survival does to a person. I pray that you will have something good left in you when you get out of this, but it's doubtful. You will be a shell of a man. You will have a message; That no matter how bad things get, kindness and generosity are the only things that make us human and dying with your humanity is the only thing that really matters." She whispered to him, tears streaming down her face.

"And you won't be able to do that. You will be a sacrifice."

With that, she turned and walked away.

* * *

Isaac opened his eyes and yawned. His mind was still stuck on the dream.

His mother hadn't been entirely wrong in her statement.

Rapture had fallen. People were evil. Isaac had a message for the world.

The only thing was that he had managed to hold onto his humanity.

His mother had not expected Rapture to go to shit _quite _like it had.

Isaac never had to turn on anyone for survival. He never had to leave one of his friends or kill one of his friends because he had never _had_ any friends.

Instead, he fought crazed drug addicts. There was little morale question there, except when he had found Omega. That changed his view a good bit.

The only thing that he felt slipping away was his sanity from sheer lack of human contact. He still felt like he knew right from wrong.

He was nowhere near as bad as some of the men his mother had told him stories about that had done everything they could to survive the war.

But now he had something to lose, something to kill, something to fight for. In a way, Omega was a liability. A chance to fulfill his mothers prophecy.

"I won't let that happen." He whispered to himself.

Did he mean it? He essentially just stated that he would let himself die if it meant her survival.

Could he even make a decision like that ahead of time?

Omega pulled herself tighter into his side.

Yes. Yes he could.

* * *

All Omega could see was black. Total darkness. There was not a bit of light.

But she could feel. Oh, could she _feel_.

She felt the sticks striking her face. The dewy feeling underfoot. She knew it was green by the feeling, but she didn't know what it was.

She felt the burning in her chest. Like she had run miles and miles.

She felt hopeless.

Something hard hit the back of her head. The dewy substance she had been running on cooled her burning face.

She could feel the cold, claw like hands on her ankles. She could feel the scrapes and scratches as she was dragged across the dewy green stuff onto the loose stone.

She heard the man's wordless shout of "Iri..." before his shout was cut short and ended in a gurgle. A cut throat.

She felt the frigid water lapping at her feet, then her legs, then soaking her shirt.

She fought. She swung her arms wildly and kicked at the cold hand's, which were undoubtedly dragging her away. She knew where she was going.

Her head was pushed into the ice water. She choked and sputtered but still felt like she was drowning.

Then there was cold metal under her back. There was a loud clang as a metal door shut. Then there was silence.

She knew these feelings. They were distant, but burned into her memory forever.

They were some of her last experiences from before her old life had been wiped away. Before she had become what she was. They were memories of the things she wanted back. The things that had been torn away from her.

* * *

Suddenly she could see. She could see Isaac with a concerned look etched into his face.

The cold metal she had felt moments earlier was replaced with the heat of his body and thumping of his heart.

She had him now. He was something she knew she had never had in her past life.

She pulled herself up and pressed her tear-stained face into his cheek.

They could get what she had lost back. Together.

* * *

It had taken a moment for Isaac to realize what was going on when Omega started screeching and flailing around with her eyes closed.

She was having a nightmare. Just like he had the day before.

After a few moments, she finally lay still.

Her eyes opened and she looked up at him.

She had such beautiful eyes. They were a deep brown flecked with the gold. The color probably had something to do with the genetic modification she had gone through, but was beautiful none the less.

She pressed her face into the side of his. She was wet from tears.

Isaac pulled her tighter to him and lay quietly for a few minutes.

She pulled her face out of his cheek and gently placed her lips on his neck.

Isaac felt the tip of her tongue brush his neck.

He inhaled and looked down at her.

She grinned and looked innocently up at him before sitting up and grabbing her suit off the floor.

What the hell was that all about?

Isaac sat up as well and grabbed a shirt off the chair next to his bed.

With a huff, Isaac pulled himself out of the warm bed. Losing Omega's wonderful body heat made the cold all the more unbearable.

Isaac walked over to his bag and pulled some random food out of it. He was lucky enough to find two cans of some sort of chicken soup.

Figuring a good haul off food was enough reason to celebrate after the piss poor day they had yesterday, Isaac pulled a pot out of the cabinet before turning on the stove. He ground the cans open and poured the concentrated soup in along with a couple cups of water.

Satisfied that the soup was cooking, he opened the fridge and pulled two beers out, smacking them both open on the edge of the counter top.

He handed one of the open bottles to Omega before taking a drink of his own.

She took a sip of the drink before looking up at him and sticking her tongue out in disgust.

Isaac laughed and stirred the soup.

* * *

Omega sat down in one of the chairs next to the table as Isaac cooked breakfast and sipped the interesting drink that Isaac had handed her.

It was cold a slightly watery, but left a burn in her mouth and tasted like some of the plants in Arcadia.

Omega had no idea what had come over her when she had licked Isaac. It was just like she wanted to have one more thing to prove that he was real. She could smell him, feel him, hear him, and taste him. He was totally there.

She sipped the drink again and watched as he cooked the unusual looking liquid in the pot.

She had to admit, he had an agreeable... form. She didn't know what she was comparing her idea of how a person should look to, but he looked good to her at least.

Like her, he was scarred, cut, dirty, and bruised, but it added to the list of things that made him closer to her. He was damaged like her, both physically and mentally.

Just from the nightmares he had, she knew he had been damaged by Rapture.

She knew of what he spoke of when he had sat up screaming that night. He had called for his father.

She had a father too. She felt the pain that came with the thought of the word and knew that he was gone with her past life.

She knew that he, like her, had been alone for a long time. Too long.

He had human contact in years and she did not remember human contact at all.

She took another sip of the drink. It was starting to taste better the more she drank it.

He was fragile though. She had seen this. The wound to his leg had sent fear through his body. She had noticed it.

She had seen splicers bleed out in seconds from wounds to their legs.

Yet he tried to protect her in battle. He forced her behind him in the halls and insisted in taking point through the dark halls. How had he survived this long with such disregard for his own safety?

Perhaps he had just decided that she was worth it. She hoped that was the cause. She did not want him taking those risks for nothing.

More importantly, he had shown he could take care of himself. She did not need to protect him and that made him an even better ally in the strictly tactical sense.

Together, they had shown each other their weaknesses and strengths. In only two days, they had become closer than Omega had ever remembered being to someone

The smell of the food was starting to make her mouth water.

Probably one of the best things about Isaac was that he could cook.

Eating cooked food was _so _much better than the slime she was used to.

* * *

Isaac poured some of the soup back into the cans. He passed one of the cans to Omega and sat down across from her.

She sipped the warm liquid and smiled at him.

What had she eaten before she had met him? She didn't seem like she knew how to cook for herself, but she didn't seem like she was starving either.

Maybe she was a cannibal. She didn't have shaking hands or anything that would point to that though, so that was doubtful.

What made her different than the other protectors? She was just another Big Sister, yet she had feelings. He could tell she had feelings. She also wasn't some mindless machine. In fact, she was anything _but _a mindless machine. She was kind and caring. She obviously felt fear and sorrow. She cared for him.

Was this the sort of thing his mother had meant when she said people used to help each other out of the goodness of their hearts?

Did Omega have some other motive for helping him than just her generosity?

Isaac had no way of telling if she had an ulterior motive.

He had no reason to believe she had one, however.

Isaac sighed and sipped his soup.

If she was tricking him, she was truly a master of trickery.

Isaac gulped down the rest of the soup and took a sip of the beer before grabbing an empty magazine out of his pack and picking one of the large drum magazines off the ground.

He slowly started transferring the round's from the drum magazine to the magazine that was compatible with the M-3.

Omega tossed her empty can into the sink and placed the shotgun on the table.

Isaac glanced up at her.

"What, having problems?"

She waved her hand at the gun as if to ask him to explain.

Isaac grunted and shoved his hands into the pile of ammo he had accumulated over the years. He knew he had some shotgun shells in the pile somewhere.

Isaac held up a box of 12 gauge shotgun shells.

"Alright. You just take a round and slide it up the ramp. Simple as that." He said as he slid a round into the bottom of the shotgun.

Omega stared at him as if to say "Really, that was it?"

Isaac shrugged.

"It's simple but it works."

Omega shook her head and reloaded the shotgun.

Isaac sat quietly sipping his beer and reloaded the magazines that had been used in the past few days.

* * *

After a few minutes, all of the magazines had been reloaded and stowed in Isaac's jacket. Omega had finished her beer and was pacing back and forth across the room. She wanted her helmet back.

She had been so hopeful that she would have had the thing fixed quickly when Isaac had said he was going to fix it.

But of course, luck was not on her side. Apparently it wasn't on Isaacs side either, as he had not been able to get any work done on his project either.

Today, however, was a new day. They could have both her helmet fixed and some of the bathysphere done. All they had to do was leave.

But Isaac had been sitting and doing nothing for the past few minutes. She couldn't figure out why he was simply sitting in the chair staring at the table.

Was he planning something or just sleeping with his eyes open?

Omega sighed and sat down in the chair across from him and tapped the table loudly.

Isaac looked up.

"Oh, sorry, I kind of zoned out there."

No shit.

* * *

Isaac clutched his leg in pain. It had gotten worse since the night before. How had he been able to sleep with this? It was like a constant pounding agony in his thigh.

He couldn't walk with this. Hell, he could hardly think with this pain.

How long would this take to stop hurting? He had been injured before, but not in a leg. The chest and arm was different. He didn't have to constantly put weight on his arm. He could throw it in a sling and forget about it.

Maybe he should just take another shot of morphine. It had worked pretty well the night before and would probably fix him up enough to walk.

Isaac shrugged to himself. What harm could it do?

He pulled a syringe out of the pack of medical supplies and stabbed it into his thigh.

He waited a moment and relief flooded through him.

Yes. It would definitely help.

Isaac pulled himself out of the chair and readied himself for the walk to the dry dock.

Omega followed him slowly.

* * *

They arrived at the upscale house with no issues. They had not seen a single splicer on their way there. Maybe Isaac's efforts had finally paid off and they had secured a route to the work sight.

Isaac slowly opened the door into the house and cleared the ground floor. The whole place looked unchanged from the day before.

They shuffled quietly to the large metal door that lead to the private dry dock.

Isaac entered in the code to open the door and waited.

Nothing happened.

Isaac glanced down at the code. It was right. He knew it was right. His mother had told it to him. He could not forget it.

He spun the dials and re entered the code.

The door still did not open.

"What the hell..."

Maybe the loss of power had screwed up the lock or something. That could be fixable if they cut the power again.

"Having trouble?" A voice called.

Isaac spun around. There was a splicer standing in the entrance to the house.

In a split second, the splicer had his head pressed into a wall, the barrel of Isaacs revolver so far in his mouth that he gagged on it when he tried to speak.

The man seemed to have something important to say, so Isaac pulled the gun out of his throat.

"You have the old code, that's for sure. That means I found the right people."

Isaac pulled the hammer back on the revolver.

"What do you mean 'Old code'? And what do you mean by you found the right people?" He asked calmly

"I mean that I changed the code."

Isaac slammed the man's head into the wall causing soot and cinders to cascade to the ground.

"Give me the code!" He screamed.

The man laughed around the gun barrel.

"Or what? You'll shoot me. God, you are more stupid than I thought! I have the code you fool! If you shoot me, you lose it."

Isaac slammed the man's head into the wall again.

"And what makes you think I need the code?"

The man smirked.

"Well primarily your reaction. But we also know what you have in there. We also know that you have no idea of how this lock operates."

Isaac remained silent. How could they know about the bathysphere?

"And what exactly is in there? Mind telling me that?"

The man remained silent for a second.

Isaac laughed and tightened his finger on the trigger. The man had almost played Isaac pretty well.

"A bathysphere for escaping Rapture."

Shit. He really knew.

"How did you find that out?" Isaac asked calmly, easing his finger off the trigger.

The man coughed.

"We have been watching you for awhile. We know about your plans."

Isaac pulled the gun out of the man's mouth and glared at him. He was partially right about Isaac not knowing much about the lock. If he put his mind to it, he could change the codes and fix the lock, but it would probably take days.

"I'm going to assume that you want me to do something for you in exchange for the codes."

The man smiled.

"Correct. The more you cooperate, the faster you get your codes."

Isaac crossed his arms and wiped the saliva off the barrel of the shining revolver.

"Alright. What do you want us to do?" Isaac asked finally.

"First, follow me."

* * *

There yah go! Chapter 9!

A good bit of sweet fluff.

When I write shit like that it makes my teeth hurt and i get a fuzzy feeling inside. Sorta like I ate a small animal. Probably a kitten :D

Anyway, I thought this chapter turned out pretty well. I built a little bit of character and furthered the plot. Flowed well too.

Next chapter will probably take a few days, but not as long as last time.

Hope you enjoyed! Review Please!


	10. Chapter 10

Sorry for the huge length of time between updates. School started up and took up a lot of my time. Started off with a good kick in the teeth.

Anyway, here is chapter 10!

* * *

Omega and Isaac followed the man for about two hours. He took them into a part of Rapture Isaac had never really spent much time in. It was considered a constant warzone as well as totally lacking in useable supplies due to the amount of fighting and scavenging always going on in the area.

The man knew his way around the area, that much was clear. He never once stopped to check a map or look for a landmark. He almost seemed to be asleep while guiding them to their destination.

Rubble clogged the halls they passed. Nearly every building was pockmarked with bullets and burn marks. The smell of gunpowder and blood hung in the air and overpowered the senses.

Isaac scratched his chin. He was still confused on how the man had changed the code to the door. The doors were mechanical in most ways, being purpose built to accept only one code. They required a disassembly from the inside to remove the old code cylinders and change them.

It would have been impossible to changed the code from the outside, yet the code that Isaac knew was right did not function.

Perhaps it was some sort of elaborate bluff.

The man seemed fairly certain that what he knew was enough to keep him alive, however.

Isaac glanced up at the man.

He was spliced, but still retained a large amount of human features. He was not badly disfigured at all.

The man was rather scrawny and had slightly rat like features.

He wore a suit jacket and dark pants. Both articles of clothing were stained with rust and grime from the floors of Rapture.

He didn't look like the gangster type. He didn't look like a survivor type.

He looked like some sort of rich man or politician. Totally out of place in Rapture.

Suddenly the man took a left into a storefront, setting off alarms in Isaacs head. He glanced over at Omega. She seemed uncomfortable as well.

He was leading them into a dark room and expected them to follow without hesitation.

Isaac readied his gun and Omega tensed up, ready to spring. The man pretended not to notice.

They walked into the room.

Nothing happened.

The man walked quickly through the dilapidated structure and out a door in the back of the room.

On the other side of the door was a large barricade with a single armed splicer standing guard. He had a shotgun slung in the crook of his arm.

"Place your weapons on the table. You will get them back when you leave the barricade."

Isaac raised an eyebrow and turned to the man that had brought them here.

"What the hell is this?"

"Safety precaution." The man answered quickly.

"Like hell it is. This is not happening."

The man shrugged.

"Well then you are never getting into your dry dock."

Isaac frowned.

He slipped the BAR off his shoulder and placed it on the table quickly followed by the M-3.

He looked at the man expectantly.

"The revolver too."

"Not happening. You stated you needed us for something. You know we are skilled. We can find a way back into that dry dock. You should view me being here and you being alive as a gift out of the goodness of our hearts."

The man frowned at this.

Isaac grinned. The man had revealed a little too much to them. He had admitted they needed him.

The man stared at him for another moment before answering.

"Very well."

Omega placed her shotgun on the table.

The man glared at her.

"That _thing_ is not coming in here. You value your safety, we value ours. She stays outside."

Isaac glared at the man. Omega practically melted him with her glare.

The man seemed unfazed.

Finally, Isaac sighed. There was no use in trying to get Omega in anyway. If anything bad happened, she could probably fight her way in with no problem.

"Fine then. She stays right here. Just be warned, if your men try anything they will end up dead. She does not take kindly to people invading her space.

Omega glanced at Isaac. She was surprised that he had accepted the man's demands.

"Good. I don't think there will be any problems."

"I hope not."

Omega picked her shotgun up off the table and tucked it under her arm.

Isaac grinned at her and she nodded to him. He had told them off fairly well.

The man gestured for Isaac to follow him.

The guard glanced from the man to Omega, and then back to the man.

"Stay here and watch here."

The guard looked at Omega.

She growled at him.

The man tightened his grip on the shotgun and straightened up a little bit.

* * *

Isaac followed the man past the barricade. What he found on the other side was a whole different world.

Dozens of splicers milled about. There were more people in the area then Isaac had ever seen at one time.

The man continued to walk through the crowds of people.

Isaac was stunned.

"What is this place? Why are there so many people?"

The man continued to walk.

"It's a sort of sanctuary for people with shared interests. On the surface, it would just be called a town."

Isaac looked around.

How were there so many people in one place? None of them even appeared to be armed. Isaac had thought most of the stupid splicers had died off, but maybe they had all just formed a little city.

The man continued to push through the crowds and finally they came to a small wooden door.

He knocked before pushing the door open and walking into the silence of the small room.

The room was well kept. There was little to no water damage to the walls and ceiling and the floor had a thick rug. A fog of smoke hung in the air.

In the center of a room, three splicers were sitting at a long table, all of them smoking. They stared up at Isaac as he walked through the door.

The door clicked shut behind them.

The one at the end of the table looked almost perfectly human. In fact, Isaac could not see any abuse of ADAM in his features. He had greasy black hair slicked back and a pointed Van Dike beard. He was rather heavy set as well.

The man puffed on his cigar before pointing it at Isaac and looking at the man that had guided him to the room.

"Is this him?" He asked in a low gravelly voice.

"Aye. This is him." The man said.

The large man puffed on his cigar again.

"You're telling me this kid killed a bunch of Hellor's men?"

The guide smirked.

"You haven't seen his partner."

The large man raised an eyebrow

"If his partner is so important why isn't he here with him?"

The guide frowned.

"She's... Different..."

The large man took another long drag on his cigar.

"Ah. I see."

They stood in silence for a minute.

"Take a seat." The man said as he gestured with a large, ring adorned hand.

Isaac pulled one of the beautiful wooden chairs out from under the shining table and took a seat. The guide followed suit.

Isaac pulled out his box of cigarettes and lit one up before folding his hands on the table in front of him.

He felt strangely out of place. He was surrounded by well dressed men, all of which looked like they had not had to struggle for food or survival for quite a long time.

"You are probably... surprised right now. I would expect you to be. The average citizen of Rapture these days doesn't really know about our little establishment here. Even the almighty Lamb doesn't know about this place." The large man said.

"This is because we have been able to keep a tight lid on the people that live here or have been here. You see, we have eyes everywhere. More so than Lamb. She is blinded by her own self proclaimed greatness and thinks she see's everything. It makes it quite easy to hide from her. We also know to watch every person that comes in here. If you leave here, you will be watched. If you speak about this place to anyone, you and the person you speak to will be killed. For secrecy, of course." He continued.

Isaac sat quietly and listened.

"But that is not important. What is important is _why _you are here. You see, the problem with being such a secret organization is that you can't really go to war with anyone. You can't fight someone off of your turf, away from your resources, or preemptively attack. You have to sit, watch, wait, and act slowly. It really is a waiting game when it comes to not being found, as you have probably discovered." The man said as he puffed on his cigar.

"You see, this is where you come in. We share a common enemy now. You see, the gang you killed at your friend, now deceased, Gary's house were not just a simple gang. They were part of a large organization. One that has been encroaching on our territory for far too long. They know your face, your general location, and your strength. They are coming for you. We have a problem with them as well! See, we already have so much in common!" The man said.

"Anyway, this group is fairly angry at you at this point. Some would say extremely angry, maybe even _enraged._ See, you killed this guy's son. The family goes by the name of Hellor. These guy's managed to weasel their way into Rapture from surface mafia ties. They are fairly committed to the way of life now and extremely serious."

Isaac was starting to get a little uncomfortable. He did not see where this was going.

"So this mob is well equipped, fairly well trained, and totally devoted to their leader, the kid you killed, his father. They are going to hunt you down and kill you and your little accomplice out there. That is, unless you finish this little dramatic escape plan you have been working on in time to escape the flood of pissed off splicers."

Isaac frowned.

"Now. We have a good bit of control over when you get to work on this little project. As you told my friend William here, you could in fact get back in there if you tried. It would undoubtedly take you a long time." The man said as he gestured to the guide.

"So we come to a situation in which I need something from you and you need something from me. You need your dry dock back, I need an extremely large threat eliminated by a third party in order to avoid drawing suspicion to my city here."

Isaac's frown deepened. He never liked the thought of making deals.

"Here is how I see it. You can accept my plea for help in this situation, or you can face an unyielding horde of splicers that want to skin you and take a victory shower in your blood. Of course, you would have my help in this situation. I would supply you with some friends of mine that could help you in your battle to eliminate this threat permanently. It would not be a death sentence in the same way that you avoiding helping me would be, but would still be quite dangerous." The man said as he leaned back in the chair, drawing a deep breath from his cigar.

Isaac leaned back in his chair as well. There was no easy way out of this one. He spoke up.

"Well, I am a simple man. A survivor. You bring me here and give me a list of demands that could ultimately lead to my death in exchange for access to a project which could also lead to my death. You give me no information on why you need this threat eliminated. I am left to weigh the odds and risks. You make this mafia-family sound quite powerful. In fact, they sound nearly more powerful than you. What if I were, say, to kill all of you, bring your heads to this man and offer your city to them on a silver platter as an apology. Obviously they would be insane to not accept this offer. Give me a reason why I should not go this path?" Isaac asked modestly. In honesty, he knew the answer they were going to give. He just wanted to see their reaction to such an outrageous proposal to get a better feel for how serious they were.

The man took a drag on his cigar, which was nearly burning his fingers. The temperature in the room dropped a few hundred degrees.

"Well first, I would say that would be a very bad idea."

He waved his hand and four men came out of the shadows. One of them pumped a shotgun and stared Isaac down. Isaac felt the adrenaline rush through his body. This was a little swifter reaction than he had originally thought they would have.

"And then you would be dead." The man finished.

Isaac was impressed with the display. They definitely were more prepared than he had expected.

The room was dead quiet for several moments.

The man smiled.

"But since that was a hypothetical situation, it doesn't really matter! I must say Isaac, I am impressed at that little test there. I really didn't think you were that suave." The man said as he flicked the cigar butt into an ash tray

Isaac was stunned. Had he really seen through that so easily?

"Don't act so stunned. I have dealt with people like you for a long time. A simple survivor would never risk such a drastic and dramatic plan. I know that your parents raised you better than that as well." The man scoffed.

Isaac nodded.

"Honestly, morality says that I go with you. I just want to see those fucks dead. Getting the bathysphere back is just a plus. I want to try and leave this hellhole at least a little better than when I got here. Wiping the gang out would just be a positive mark." Isaac said.

The man grinned and then let out a short laugh.

"That is what I like to hear! You earned a little explanation for this whole thing." The man said jovially.

"Competition. Simple competition. You see, these fucks have been taking all the ADAM in the entire city. I need some to keep my citizens sane! We don't usually harvest little sisters, so we have to resort to scavenging what we can. They need to disappear. Once you break up the leadership enough, they will be no threat to the ADAM sources."

Isaac nodded. This was definitely going to be a little out of the normal routine of hiding to survive.

"By the way, my name is Maximilian." The large man said.

Isaac nodded.

"And these" Maximilian said as he gestured to the other two men that had been at the table when they had walked in. "Are my board members"

William snorted.

Maximilian laughed.

"William is one too. He just gets a little dirty on the job sometimes. We are all too lazy to go out in the field anymore. He still has it in him though. He still has the fire."

Isaac realized just how old these men were. They all looked to be in their sixties, maybe even early seventies.

Each man reached over to Isaac and gave him a strong handshake.

Maximilian sat back in his seat after reaching to shake Isaac's hand.

"Alright. All in favor of inducting Isaac into are little family say aye."

A chorus of yes's and aye's filled the room.

"Alright then. Isaac, do you swear by God and by your blood that you will protect the Disciples of New Rapture under any circumstance to your last drop of blood, to your last breath, to the last bullet, and to the last scrap of honor you have?"

Isaac nodded.

"I do."

"Do you swear that you will never under any circumstance reveal our existence or location to any non member of the organization except for recruitment purposes under penalty of death by torture and eternal damnation to darkest corner of Hell known to Satan himself?"

"I do."

"Do you swear that you will avenge the death of any member of the Discipleship tenfold, or when possible, hundredfold?"

"I do."

"Do you swear that upon your escape from this place that you will tell every man, woman, and child what you saw happen here in this city?"

Isaac frowned.

"I do."

Maximilian nodded.

"Hold out your hand."

Isaac held out his right hand.

Maximilian dropped a six sided spike into his palm and pulled an envelope out of his breast pocket.

He unfolded the contents of the envelope and placed it on the table in front of Isaac. Isaac glanced down at the paper. Some long passage was written out in beautiful curling script. From what he could make out, the whole thing was just a written form of the oath Maximilian had made him swear. Below the oath was a few dozen brown specks of dried blood, and at the very bottom of the page was a dozen signatures. Isaac spotted Maximilian's at the bottom, but did not recognize any other ones.

Realizing what he was supposed to do, Isaac clenched his fist around the sharpened spike. He cringed as the points dug into his flesh and a dribble of blood fell to the paper with an audible _splat_.

Isaac let the spike roll out of his hand onto the table. Maximilian quickly snatched it up and folded the paper up.

"You are now one of us. Keep our trust and you will go far, break your promises and you will die. Welcome to the family."

Isaac nodded again and shook Max's hand firmly for a second time. William patted him on the back before standing up.

"That's all for today. Follow me. We have a place for you to stay tonight. It is not safe for you to go back home." William said to him as he pushed his chair back under the table.

Isaac stood up and walked to the door. William pulled the door open.

Isaac turned around and looked back at the three men.

"Thank you for giving me this opportunity."

The men nodded and waved him out the door.

Isaac turned and followed William out.

What had he gotten himself into?

* * *

Well that's chapter 10. Next update will come whenever. I will try and cut down the time a little bit, but it might not happen. Hope you enjoyed!

Review please!


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